Comfort and discomfort of dental trauma splints - a comparison of a new device (TTS) with three commonly used splinting techniques

The present experimental study compared four dental trauma splints in 10 volunteers. The evaluated splints included a wire-composite splint (WCS), a button-bracket splint (BS), a resin splint (RS), and the newly developed titanium trauma splint (TTS). All splints were bonded to the labial surfaces of the maxillary lateral and central incisors and left in place for 1 week. After splint removal, the next splint was placed after a 1-week rest period. The sequence of splint application was randomized for each individual. The following subjective parameters were assessed using a visual analogue scale: sensitiveness of splinted teeth, irritation of the gingival margin, irritation of the lips, impairment of speech, eating and oral hygiene. The results show that the application of BS leads to a significantly higher irritation of the lips and greater impairment of speech compared to other splints (P<0.05). The RS leads to an increased and significantly higher irritation of the gingiva (P<0.05) owing to a significant increase in cleaning difficulties (P<0.05). In conclusion, WCS and TTS appear to be more accepted splints according to a subjective assessment by 10 volunteers.