Efficacy of Rapid Palatal Expansion With and Without Protraction Headgear: A Cephalometric Study

This investigation was undertaken to evaluate if maxillary expansion using conventional banded expanders or expansion using bonded expanders and protraction headgear significantly affected the maxillofacial complex in growing subjects. Since this treatment is typically initiated in a young growing population, changes in the craniofacial complex are due to both growth and treatment. Effects of rapid palatal expansion on the craniofacial skeleton, with and without protraction headgear, has been studied using cephalometric technique. Few studies, however, have attempted to differentiate the contributions of growth change from the changes brought about by treatment. Eight cephalometric landmarks in the maxilla were used to evaluate anterior-posterior and vertical movement of the maxilla and the dentition., and eight linear and three angular measurements were recorded. Mean cephalometric changes were compared among two experimental groups (expansion-only and expansion and protraction headgear) and a control group. Each of the three groups were comprised of twenty subjects age and gender matched. The experimental groups were not treated with any additional maxillary appliances before or during the observed treatment. Records were taken pre-treatment and post-treatment (the day appliances were removed) for the treatment group and equivalent times for the control group. Oneway [sic] analysis of variance performed on the data showed no significant differences among the three groups despite some significant changes due to treatment within each of the individual experimental groups. Under the conditions of the study, it was concluded that banded expander therapy and bonded expander and protraction headgear therapy did not significantly modify growth patterns of the maxilla when compared to a non-treated population