title: Clinical response to allergies in patients.
abstract: Allergenic reactions are becoming a more prevalent concern of practitioners in health-related fields. As patient susceptibility increases, the need for understanding and successfully treating such heterogeneous responses becomes paramount. This article presents a theoretical bioengineering model that considers the influences of specific concentrations on their chemical effects. This model then is applied to contemporary orthodontics in which nickel and, to a lesser extent, chromium are antagonists in as many as 1 in 500 patients-which, for North America, amounts to about 4000 patients per year. For the occasional patient who responds positively to a questionnaire, a skin patch test would be administered to establish whether alternative alloys could be used, whether they be gold, platinum, nickel-free stainless steel, or titatnium-molybdenum alloys.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, School of Dentistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27599, USA. rkusy@bmc.unc.edu
authors.forename: Robert P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Kusy
mesh_terms: D001698:Biomedical Engineering; D002858:Chromium Alloys / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006968:Hypersensitivity, Delayed / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D018448:Models, Immunological; D009532:Nickel / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016382:Orthodontic Appliance Design; D009967:Orthodontic Appliances / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010328:Patch Tests / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D002858:Chromium Alloys; D009532:Nickel