Advantages of early treatment of pseudo Class III

Abstract

AIM: To investigate the long-term outcome of early treatment of pseudo Class III malocclusions, using a simple fixed appliance and to compare it with untreated controls. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Twenty-one consecutively treated pseudo Class III malocclusion patients with a mean age of 9.6 years. Fifteen untreated pseudo Class III subjects in the permanent dentition were used as controls. The subjects in the treated group were followed for 5 years. Lateral cephalograms and study models were analysed for the treated, the control and the follow-up group. RESULTS: Anterior crossbites and mandibular displacement were corrected after treatment and relapse was not observed during the follow-up period. The angulations of the upper incisors to the maxillary plane showed a mean increase of 9.5 degrees (P < 0.001), whereas the angulation of the lower incisors to the mandibular plane showed a decrease of 4.9 degrees (P < 0.001). A comparison of the space available as a result of early treatment with space required for alignment of teeth in the upper arch of the untreated group indicated that there was sufficient space for the eruption of the canines and premolars as a result of early treatment, whereas lack of space was evident in the untreated controls. CONCLUSIONS: Early treatment of pseudo Class III by proclination of the upper incisors provides sufficient space for the eruption of the buccal segments; erupting canines and premolars are guided into a Class I relationship after early correction of anterior mandibular displacements