The European Journal of Orthodontics Advance Access published online on September 13, 2009
The European Journal of Orthodontics, doi:10.1093/ejo/cjp092
Treatment and post-treatment effects of facemask therapy on the sagittal pharyngeal dimensions in Class III subjects
* Department of Orthodontics, University of Florence ‘Tor Vergata’, Italy
** Department of Orthodontics, University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’, Italy
Address for correspondence Lorenzo Franchi, Via G. F. Mariti 10, 50127 Firenze, Italy, E-mail: lorenzo.franchi{at}unifi.it
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Abstract |
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The purpose of this cephalometric study was to analyse the treatment and post-treatment craniofacial effects of a facemask (FM) combined with a bite block (BB) with specific regard to the sagittal pharyngeal dimensions in subjects with a Class III malocclusion when compared with an untreated Class III control group. The FM/BB group (22 subjects, 12 females and 10 males) had a mean age pre-treatment (T1) of 8.9 ± 1.5 years, at the end of active treatment (T2) of 10.5 ± 1.3 years, and post-treatment (T3) of 12.6 ± 1.9 years. The treated group was compared with a control group of 14 subjects (6 females and 8 males) with untreated Class III malocclusions that matched the FM/BB group as to age at T1, T2, and T3, observation periods and skeletal maturation. Comparisons of the T2–T1 and T3–T1 changes between the two groups were analysed with the Mann–Whitney test.
Significant favourable skeletal changes in the maxilla and mandible were observed in the treated group both after Ts2 and T3. No significant short- or long-term changes in the sagittal oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal airway dimensions were induced by maxillary protraction in subjects with a Class III malocclusion when compared with untreated controls.