RESUMO
Collective changes caused by orthodontic tooth movement evaluated in a specific treatment modality could give suggestive information on the specific treatment strategy. The aim of this study was to investigate retrospectively the characteristics of the orthodontic tooth movement during surgical-orthodontic treatment in order to provide an effective presurgical orthodontic treatment planning for the maxillary premolar extraction modality in the skeletal Class III malocclusion patient. Pre- and posttreatment dental casts of skeletal Class III malocclusion patients with nonextraction (N=24) and the maxillary premolar extraction (N=31) were collected. The angulation and inclination measuring gauge (Invisitech Co. Seoul, Korea) was used to evaluate the orthodontic tooth movement. The changes in the maxillary and mandibular dental arch widths were also measured from the canines to the second molars. As a result, more palatal inclination change in the maxillary dentition was found with the premolar extraction modality than with the nonextraction modality. Linear regression analysis showed that the inter-arch width coordination was mainly due to the inclination changes of maxillary posterior teeth. We conclude that the indications and proper treatment planning for surgical-orthodontic treatment in skeletal Class III malocclusion with maxillary premolar extraction could depend partly on the magnitude of the transverse inter-arch coordination especially in the maxillary dentition.