Short- and Long-Term Effects of Maxillary Expander with Tongue Crib in Growing Open-Bite and Skeletal Class II Patients: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate short- and long-term changes in growing patients with Class II malocclusion and open bite after rapid maxillary expansion (RME). A retrospective cohort study was conducted with 16 growing patients with open-bite malocclusion enrolled in a group treated with a rapid maxillary expander (RME) with a crib (TG), and 16 untreated patients with similar malocclusion in the control group (CG). Cephalograms were recorded before starting the treatment (T0), at the end of the latency phase (T1), and before the fixed therapy (T2) in order to analyze skeletal and dental changes in vertical, transversal, and sagittal relationships. Statistical analysis was performed with α = 0.05 as level of significance. At the end of the active expansion (T1), all subjects in the TG showed a corrected overbite with a statistically significant difference compared to the CG (p > 0.05). A significant decrease in jaw divergence was found in the TG compared to the CG (p < 0.05). At T2, all treated patients maintained a correct overbite. Statistical analysis revealed a significant decrease in maxillary, mandibular, and intermaxillary divergence in the TG compared to the CG (p < 0.05). This protocol could be effective in growing open-bite patients, showing a long-term decrease in facial divergence. The fixed crib allowed to normalize myofunctional activity.