The aim of this study is to examine the change of the osteoclastic activity in the surrounding bone with or without tooth movement after corticotomy by histologic study. Eighteen male Sprague Dawley rats with an average body weight of 300 g(range 250-350 g) were used. The rats were divided into three groups of six animals. They were operated corticotomy-assisted tooth movement and killed after 1 week, 2 weeks, and 3 weeks after tooth movement. Corticotomy was done in the surrounding of the both upper first molar. A split mouth design was used by referring to the contralateral side as control. After flap suturing, the upper left first molar was moved anteriorly by closed coil spring. The force applied was 1 N. The average of tooth movement of the 1 week group was $0.24{pm}0.09mm,;0.20{pm}0.26mm$ in 2 weeks group and $0.41{pm}0.39mm$ in 3 weeks group, respectively. The difference between the 1 week and the 2 weeks groups was very small to compare with the 3 weeks group. In the treatment group, the average numbers of cells that positively reacted to TRAP were 14.5 in the 1 week group, 12.0 in the 2 weeks group, and 6.0 in the 3 weeks group. In the control group, the numbers were 8.3 in the 1 week group, 12.8 in the 2 week group, and 1.5 in the 3 week group, respectively. The amount of tooth movement of the 3 week group was about twice as large as those of the 1 week and 2 week groups. From the standpoint of histology, the average number of cells that positively reacted to TRAP was initially larger in the treatment group than in the control group, similar in both group in 2 weeks, and became less in the treatment group in 3 weeks. Additionally, in the control group, their activity of osteoclast was higher in 2 weeks than in 1 week, and decreased rapidly in 3 weeks.