Effect of psychological stress on orthodontic tooth movement in rats

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of psychological stress on orthodontic tooth movement in Wistar rats. Materials and methods: Forty-eight female ten-week old Wistar rats with an average weight of 188 ±12 gr were selected and randomly divided into two experimental and control groups. The experimental group received crowded environment-induced and cat odour stresses 4 weeks before spring insertion. On the 29th day in both groups, maxillary incisors were moved by the insertion of springs and exactly after 7 days, 9 rats from each group and after 14 days the remaining rats were sacrificed. Then the mesioincisal distance between maxillary incisors was measure…