Effects of diazepam on orthodontic tooth movement and alveolar bone cAMP levels in cats.

Cyclic AMP has been suggested as a possible intracellular mediator in bone remodeling during tooth movement. Accordingly, an increase in the level of this nucleotide should result in faster tooth movement. Breakdown of cAMP was inhibited by administration of diazepam in eight cats undergoing orthodontic tooth movement; another matched group of eight animals served as controls. Orthodontic appliances consisted of coil springs stretching between the right side maxillary and mandibular canines and third premolars. The data for tooth movement and cAMP concentrations were analyzed by repeated measures factorial analyses of variance. The results indicated that administration of diazepam increased the rate of tooth movement at P less than 0.0005 and, interestingly, although diazepam had no effect on undisturbed tissues, it lowered the cAMP levels in the periodontal tissues of orthodontically moved teeth at P less than 0.01. On the basis of these results, it was concluded that the concentration of cAMP did not correlate with bone remodeling in this model and perhaps should not be used as an index of periodontal-tissue response during orthodontic tooth movement.