Begin by cutting the skin vertically off the cervical region of the euthanized mice separate the head from the body, with the entire skin of the head dissected. Next, cut off the skin and buccinator muscles from the bilateral angulus oris to the posterior region of the mandible. Completely disconnect the buccal muscles and tendons from the coracoids to remove the mandible.
Trim any extra bones to obtain the complete maxillae. Remove the bone behind the bilateral third molars, and peel off the palatal mucosa. Finally, disconnect the orthodontic appliance, and cut the bone between the incisors along the median palatine suture to obtain the right and left alveolar bone.
Alveolar bone remodeling in the STAT3 deletion in osteoblasts was confirmed by immunofluorescent staining of alveolar bone. Stereomicroscopy revealed that the orthodontic tooth movement distance of the wild type mice increased on days four, seven, and 10. However, the orthodontic tooth movement distance was reduced in the STAT3 knockout mice.
Micro-CT analysis on day 10 confirmed the reduced movement, indicating that STAT3 deletion decelerated orthodontic tooth movement.