Overview

The goal of this observational study is to learn about the safety and accuracy of ultrasound as a screening tool to detect broken bones (fractures) in the elbow area in children and youth aged 5 to 15 years. The main question it aims to answer is:

\- Can ultrasound reliably show that there is a fracture in the elbow area after an accident?

Participants will:

• Have an ultrasound of their elbow to look for fluid in the joint.
• Have standard X-rays of their elbow to check if there is a fracture.
• Have their medical records checked and answer a phone call 6 weeks later to see how their elbow has healed (only if no fracture was found during the first visit).

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

Patients will be consecutively selected among those attending the Faculty of Odontology, University Complutense (Madrid, Spain) looking for orthodontic therapy.

The inclusion criteria will be as follows:

• patients requiring maxillary and/or mandible orthodontic treatment;
• patients with permanent dentition in stage 5 or 6 of the cervical vertebral maturation method as described by Baccetti et al. (2002);
• minimal to moderate maxillary and/or mandibular anterior crowding at baseline (arch length discrepancy from 3-8 mm); and
• adequate oral health (i.e. periodontal health, absence of periapical infections and untreated caries).

Exclusion Criteria:

• subjects with periodontitis stage III or IV (Papapanou et al., 2018);
• subjects with poor oral hygiene (represented as full-mouth plaque scores (FMPS) \>25%);
• ongoing chronic drug therapy influencing bone metabolism (e.g. steroids, immunosuppressors or antiresorptive drugs);
• subjects with uncontrolled systemic diseases (e.g. diabetes);
• pregnancy and
• subjects not willing to comply with the study visits