Abstract: PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the periodontal status in adult periodontal disease patients with malocclusion treated with digital clear aligners. METHODS: Thirty-three patients with periodontal disease who needed orthodontic treatment were selected. The patients were randomly divided into 2 groups, digital clear aligners group (experimental group, 16 patients) and fixed appliances group (control group, 17 patients). Bleeding index (BI), probing depth(PD), plaque index(PLI) and gingival index(GI) were recorded at baseline and 1, 3, 6 and 9 months during orthodontic treatment. SPSS 17.0 software package was used to analyze and compare the data of periodontal status between two groups. RESULTS: 1, 3, 6, and 9 months after orthodontic treatment, clinical parameters of the control group were significantly higher than baseline(P<0.05). The same measurements of the experimental group showed no significant differences at 1, 3, 6, and 9 months of treatment (P>0.05). After 1, 3, 6, and 9 months of treatment, the clinical parameters of BI, PLI and GI in the experimental group were significantly lower than the control group(P<0.05); PD in the experimental group was smaller than the control group, but there was no significant difference(P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Compared with conventional fixed appliance, clear aligner of digitalization can more effectively maintain periodontal heath in adult periodontal disease patients with malocclusion.

Key words: Orthodontic treatment, Clear aligners, Fixed appliance, Digitalization