Cone beam computed tomographic evaluation of the changes in condylar position in growing patients with unilateral posterior crossbite undergoing rapid maxillary expansion followed by fixed orthodontic therapy.

PURPOSE

This study aimed at assessing changes in condylar position (CP) in growing patients with unilateral posterior crossbite (UPC) undergoing rapid maxillary expansion (RME) followed by fixed orthodontic treatment (FOT) (experimental-group); and growing patients without posterior crossbite (PC) treated with FOT alone (control-group).

METHODS

Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images were obtained before treatment (T0), 6 months after RME (T1) and after FOT (T2) for the experimental-group (n = 19); and at T0 and T2 for the control-group (n = 22). Condylar position-related measurements including the anterior joint space (AJS), superior joint space (SJS), posterior joint space (PJS), lateral position of condyle (LC) and condylar angle (CA) were measured. Non-parametric tests were used.

RESULTS

On the crossbite side, significant increases were found in LC (P = 0.039) and CA (P = 0.007), and on the non-crossbite side significant increases were observed in SJS (P = 0.027) and LC (P = 0.001) between T0, T1 and T2 in patients with UPC. On the right and left sides in the control-group, significant increases were identified in LC (P < 0.001 and P = 0.012, respectively) between T0 and T2.

CONCLUSIONS

In growing patients with UPC, RME followed by FOT is associated with significant changes in CP-related measurements.