3D soft tissue changes in facial morphology in patients with cleft lip and palate and class III mal occlusion under therapy with rapid maxillary expansion and delaire facemask.

AIM

Rapid Maxillary Expansion (RME) and Delaire facemask are a well-established treatment method for patients with cleft lip and palate and Class III malocclusion. Several roentgenocephalometric studies on skeletal effects of this therapy are known. However, there are no systematic studies on soft tissue changes. The aim of this study was to analyze three-dimensionally the soft tissue changes in facial morphology of children with cleft lip and palate and Class III malocclusion under therapy with RME and Delaire facemask.

PATIENTS AND METHOD

A prospective longitudinal clinical trial was undertaken. 29 children between 4.1 and 6.4 years were divided into four groups: eight patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate (group 1), six patients with isolated cleft palate (group 2), eight patients with Class III malocclusion (group 3). The mean treatment period with RME and Delaire mask was 8.2 months. Seven untreated children with no need of orthodontic treatment were chosen as the control (group 4). Two 3D images, one at the beginning and one at the end of the study, were generated with the DSP 400((c)) imaging system. Both images were superimposed ten times and measured ten times.

RESULTS

We detected significant forward rotation and forward displacement of the soft tissue in the lower midface with the dentoalveolar areas in all patient groups. No significant asymmetric forward displacement of the soft tissue in the maxilla could be verified in the lower or upper midface, not even in the unilateral cleft lip and palate patients. Among the groups, the Class III malocclusion patients showed greater maxillary soft tissue changes.

CONCLUSION

The RME and the Delaire facemask demonstrated the greatest effectiveness in the lower midface soft tissue in terms of forward displacement and forward rotation in the cleft lip and palate patients, particularly in the Class III patients. The 3D data allowed us to discriminatively interpret the effects of the orthopedic mask on the entire maxillary complex and maxillary alveolar process. In the unilateral cleft lip and palate patients, there was descriptively both symmetric and asymmetric advancement of the midface soft tissue.