Quantitative evaluation of proximal tooth movement effected by wedging: a pilot study.

The major purpose of this pilot study was to develop a method to accurately measure proximal tooth movement. A preliminary clinical evaluation of anterior and posterior tooth movement was performed with five patients. The patients were carefully chosen to eliminate as many variables as possible. The controlled patient criteria included periodontal health, proximal contacts, the age of the patients, and the teeth selected for anterior and posterior displacement. The small sample size dictates that additional experimentation must be performed before definitive conclusions can be drawn.