May alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks affect the rate of orthodontic tooth movement? A systematic review of animal studies

Background: Humans may consume various beverages in everyday life. Previous research has shown that the administration of different substances (medicinal or not) may affect bone turnover and, thus, orthodontic tooth movement. It would be anticipated that the substances contained in beverages could have an impact on tooth movement, as well. Objective: To investigate in a systematic way and appraise the quality of the available evidence from animal studies regarding the impact of various drinks or the main ingredients included in beverages on the rate of orthodontic tooth movement. Search methods: Search without restriction in six databases (including grey literature) and hand searching were performed until March 2022. Selection criteria: We looked for controlled animal studies investigating the effect of drinks, or the main ingredients included in beverages, on the rate of orthodontic tooth movement. Data collection and analysis: After study retrieval and selection, relevant data was extracted, and the risk of bias was assessed using the SYRCLE's Risk of Bias Tool. The quality of available evidence was assessed with the Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation. Results: The initially identified records were finally reduced to nine studies conducted on animals. Carbonated soft drinks were shown to decrease the rate of tooth movement, but alcohol consumption did not have an impact. Exploratory meta-analysis showed that caffeine exhibited an acceleratory effect after 3 weeks of force application. Exploratory meta-regression results indicated that high dosages of caffeine reduced the rate of tooth movement. Conclusions: The located animal experiments reported that caffeine accelerates, carbonated drinks decelerate, while alcohol does not affect the rate of orthodontic tooth movement. However, due to various limitations it remains unclear whether caffeine, alcohol, or carbonated drinks finally influence tooth movement in animal studies.