The Effect of Celecoxib on Orthodontic Tooth Movement and Root Resorption in Rat

Objective: inhibition of prostaglandin (pgs) production leads to decrease in orthodontic tooth movement (otm). it is not known whether inhibition of cyclooxygenase-1 (cox-1) or cyclooxygenase-2 (cox-2) is the key mechanism for this effect. in this study, the effect of celecoxib, a highly-selective cox-2 inhibitor, was investigated on otm in rats.materials and methods: four groups of male rats (seven animals in each goup) were used in the study. a 5mm-long nickel-titanium closed-coil spring was ligated between the right maxillary incisor and the first molar of each rat to deliver an initial force of 60g. all four groups recieved orthodontic appliances, group 1 received no injections, group 2 re-ceived celecoxib injections (0.3 mg in 0.1 ml saline solution), group 3 recieved normal sa-line injections (0.1 ml saline solution), and group 4 recieved needle penetration without injecting any solution. the local injections were carried out every 3 days for 18 days. all injections were subperiosteal and given in the upper right first molar mucosa. the animals were sacrificed 21 days after appliance insertion and otm was measured.results: in the animals treated with celecoxib a statistically significant decrease in otm was observed compared with the other groups. histological findings revealed that osteo-clast count was significantly lower in group 2 compared with the other groups (p<0.05). the amount of root resorption showed a slight, but nonsignificant decrease in group 3.conclusion: this study suggests that celecoxib decreases otm and osteoclast count. this might be the result of cox-2 enzyme inhibition and subsequent decrease in prostaglandin production.