Effect of Bone-anchored Protraction on Maxillary Growth in the Young Child

Rationale:

Class III malocclusions may originate in a retrognathic maxilla, a prognathic mandible or both. Young patients with class III malocclusion and maxillary hypoplasia are conventionally treated with a protraction facemask or reverse twin block appliance in order to stimulate forward growth of the upper jaw. This treatment option is often inducing unwanted side effects including mesial migration of the teeth in the upper jaw and clockwise rotation of the mandible. Because skeletal effects are often difficult to achieve with this approach, more pronounced class III malocclusions cannot be addressed by face mask therapy. These children cannot be treated during childhood and end up in major orthognathic surgery at full-grown age.

To be able to treat also the more pronounced class III malocclusion and to minimize dentoalveolar compensations new treatment methods were developed which uses skeletal anchorage. In maxillary deficiency cases it's common to have the deficiency anteroposteriorly as well as transversely. Opening of the midpalatal suture by rapid expansion can correct the transverse hypoplasia and may produce more anterior movement of the maxilla. The proposed technique enables to start skeletal anchorage treatment at an earlier age, which also has the potential of more growth modification during treatment.

Objective:

To compare a new technique of skeletal traction with incorporation of maxillary expansion to conventional treatment protocols.