Clinical Study of the Maxillary Expansion/Protraction Combined with Class III Elastic Therapy on Class III Malocclusion in CLP Patients

Objective To observe the clinic effect of the maxillary expansion/protraction combined with Class Ⅲ elastic therapy on Class Ⅲ malocclusion in cleft lip and palate(CLP) patients.Methods 21 patients with CLP Class Ⅲ malocclusion during transitional dentition were randomly allocated into 2 groups.The control group was treated with the maxillary expansion/protraction while the treatment group was treated with the maxillary expansion/protraction combined with Class Ⅲ elastic.The therapeutic procedure and the changes by cephalometric analysis of 2 groups before and after treatment were compared.Statistical analysis was done.Results The therapeutic period of the control group was(29.40±2.88) weeks while the treatment group was (21.00±2.14) weeks,and the difference was significant(P0.001).Conclusion The maxillary expansion/protraction combined with Class Ⅲ elastic is an effective method for the correction of the Class Ⅲ malocclusion in CLP patients,which is of help to lead to a shorter therapeutic period.