Clinical study of mandible symphysis widening

ABSTRACT

Mandibular symphyseal distraction osteogenesis is an alternative approach for correcting mandibular transverse deficiencies and dental crowding. The traditional approaches for these are extraction of teeth and arch expansion with traditional orthodontic treatment. Also extractions are usually unavoidable in patients with severe crowding. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of mandibular symphyseal distraction osteogenesis by use of tooth-borne expansion appliance. All of 12 patients had been performed distraction osteogenesis. The surgical procedures were accomplished under local anesthesia and intravenous sedation in an ambulatory surgical setting using a routine distraction protocol. The latency period was 5 days or 7 days after symphyseal osteotomies. The rate and rhyth is a intermittent, 0.75mm or 1.0 mm per day and stabilized for 6, 8 weeks after distraction. The time of orthodontic tooth movement after distraction was variable from 2 weeks to 8 weeks (mean 3 weeks). All patients had been evaluated with study casts, plain periapical films, panorama radiograms before and after surgery. Mandibular symphyseal distraction osteogenesis increased mandibular arch width and corrected dental crowding, with paralleling tooth-borne movement, without proclination of the mandibular incisors.