Objective: To evaluate dental and facial profile changes in non-surgical treatment on subjects of 12-14 years old with severe skeletal Class III deformity which were treated with Tip-edge plus appliance.
Methods: Twelve patients with severe skeletal Class III malocclusion (male 3, female 9), with age range from 12 years old to 14 years old, were included in the study. All cases were treated with Tip-Edge straight wire technique .The selection criteria included: (1) mesial or superior mesial Class III molar relationship, with maxillary first molar occlude the buccal groove of the mandibular second molars (2) no mandibular shift (3) ANB < - 1.5° (4)) concave facial profile. Lateral cephalometric films taken at the beginning and the end of the treatment were analyzed with traditional cephalometric analysis.
Results: Normal over-jet and overbite were established. SNA was increased 1.97°. ANB was significantly increased from -2.84° (the beginning of treatment) to 1.2° (the finishing of treatment). NA-PA was increased 2.29°. Negative value of the distance difference of upper lip and lower lip to Sn-Pg′ at the beginning of treatment significantly changed to positive value at the finishing of treatment.
Conclusion: Successful treatment effects could be obtained with Tip-edge appliance in severe skeletal Class III malocclusion by promoting maxillary forward growth.