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Introduction: Menopause and the use of OCP bring about a lot of changes in the female biology. Estrogen is
essential for the maintenance of the bone health in adulthood and its withdrawal attributes to the production
of osteoclastogenic cytokines.
Objective: The first objective was to detect the influence of menopause and OCPs in GCF in women of
various age groups during orthodontic treatment. Second was to determine the difference in orthodontic
treatment timing in menopausal and young women.
Materials and Method: The GCF samples were collected from 48 healthy female individuals, age ranging
from 22 to 56 years. There were four groups of women. First group consisted of 24 menopausal women,
second group consisted of 24 young women. The other two groups consisted of 12 young women taking OCP
and the other 12 young women not taking OCP. Cytokine analysis was done with the help of enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assay. Treatment time to grossly align the mild crowding of the lower incisors was noted as
the fixed orthodontic treatment time.
Result: The expression of RANKL and IL-17A was higher in menopausal women than the young women
(p<0.05). Significantly higher expression of RANKL and IL-17A was observed in the young women without
the OCP than the women using OCP. Treatment time was significantly shorter in the menopausal women
than the young women. Treatment time significantly long in the women taking OCP (p<0.05) than in women
not taking OCP.
Conclusion: The expression of higher and the comparatively lower levels of certain cytokines conclude the
possible effect of female hormones while planning the treatment and consideration of age and time while
rendering various types of orthodontic treatment modalities.

Gingival crevicular fluid; menopause; oral contraceptive pill; orthodontic treatment time.