Spanish abstract

The active orthodontic treatment is followed by a retention phase. Currently, the most common way to retain the lower arch is the fixed retainer placed on lingual surfaces from canine to canine. In this phase, the appearance of gingival recessions after orthodontic treatment is unfortunately an undesirable complication. This study aims to evaluate possible risk factors in the development of gingival recessions in orthodontic patients after at least five years after the end of treatment with fixed appliances and fixed lingual retainer. The research is part of a five-year analytical and retrospective study with patients treated in the orthodontic master. The results allowed establishing the relationship between the appearance of gingival recessions and various risk factors in the active phase and retention period. Of all the patients studied, 25 presented recession and 11 did not. Only statistically significant differences were found between patients with and without recession in the following variables: XY axis, position and initial inclination of the Steiner and Ricketts incisor, final position of the Steiner lower incisor, depth of probing and sex. For the rest of the variables studied, we found no differences between the two groups. KEY WORDS: Gingival recession; Fixed retention; Fixed appliances; Retention period.