【Objective】 Open bite is one of the most difficult malocclusion to correct by orthodontic treatment. Thus, orthognathic surgeries are applied in many open bite cases. However, hospitalization and general anesthesia are required, and patients have to suffer from surgical stress. Alternatively, application of TADs is a powerful tool to correct open bite and avoid orthognathic surgery. In this case report, we report an orthodontic treatment of a severe open bite case using TADs.
【Case】 A 26-years-old female came to our hospital with a chief complaint of eating difficulty. She showed an average skeletal relationship in A-P dimension, but had vertical problems due to the supraeruption of molars and infraversion of mandibular incisors. Overbite and overjet were -4.0 and 7.0 mm, respectively. She showed tongue thrust. She didn’t want to have orthognathic intervention, and orthodontic treatment without orthognathic surgery was initiated using TADs (mini-plates) which were implanted bimaxillary on both sides. Using TADs, the maxillary and mandibular molars were intruded by 2.0 and 1.5 mm, and distalized by 3.0 and 4.0 mm respectively. The mandibular plane angle was decreased by 2.0°, and the upper incisors were retroclined by 11.0°. After active treatment, open bite and large overjet were corrected, and vertical relapse of the molars was hardly seen.
【Discussion and Summary】 This case report demonstrates that TADs can provide a low invasive and highly predictable treatment for open bite cases.