Monitoring early phases of orthodontic treatment by means of Raman spectroscopies

Gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) is a site-specific exudate in the gingival sulcus. GCF composition changes in response to diseases or mechanical stimuli, such as those occurring during orthodontic treatments. Raman microspectroscopy (μ-RS) and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) were adopted for a GCF analysis during different initial phases of orthodontic force application. GCF samples were pooled from informed patients using paper cones. SERS spectra were obtained from GCF extracted from these cones, whereas μ-RS spectra were directly acquired on paper cones without any manipulation. The spectral characteristics of the main functional groups and the changes in cytochrome, amide III, and amide I contributions were highlighted in the different phases of orthodontic treatment with both SERS and μ-RS analysis. μ-RS directly performed on the paper cones together with proper statistical methods can offer an effective approach for the development of a tool for monitoring the processes occurring during orthodontic treatments, which may help the clinician in the choice of type of treatment individually for each patient and accelerate and improve the orthodontic therapy.