Prof. Nazan Kucukkeles

Abstract. New treatment modalities for the correction of Class III: Rapid maxillary protraction

Using face mask is a common treatment protocole for the correction of maxillary retrognathism.It is possible to advance maxilla in growing individuals, about 2-3 mm in 9-12 months of treatment time. But we don’t have many options other than surgery or distraction if the growth is completed or the anomali is more severe.Waiting for the growth completion for surgical option may result in psychological problems in the adolesant stage. It is also possible to elongate membraneous bone of maxilla by distraction protocole which is perfomed usualy on cleft cases. On the other hand few researchers documented the clinical and cephalometric results of a ‘distraction like’ method.They protracted maxilla rapidly by using face mask following Lefort I surgery. These studies reported 5-11 mm maxillary advancement in a very short period of time. In 2004 we designed a study to evaluate the effects of a similar treatment method and compared it with the conventional one (RPE+face mask therapy). The results of surgery assisted protraction was more remarkable and rapid compared to the other group. After these promising results we decided to improve the technique by preparing an intraoral design which maxilla was protracted by Class III elastics attached between the upper splint and the mini plates located on the symphisial bone. We treated a group of patient with this latter design and also evaluated the results of this treatment method. During this lecture short and long term progress of cases treated with both protocole will be presented together with the results of both studies.