Temporary skeletal anchorage – possibilities and mechanism of application. Literature review

Abstract

To date, the use of a temporary skeletal anchorage in orthodontic treatment in almost every clinical case. Despite this, there are only two variants of this surgical instrument: mini-screws and mini-plates. Both variants of the skeletal anchorage have their positive and negative qualities, which, to one degree or another, affect the result and timing of treatment. The purpose of this literature review is to describe the main methods of using temporary skeletal anchorage, in which clinical cases their use is possible and contraindicated, as well as what positive and negative aspects can be observed during and after the treatment of orthodontic patients. The search for scientific data was carried out in the PubMed database using such keywords as: orthodontic skeletal anchorage, temporary anchorage, orthodontic mini-screw, orthodontic mini-plate. A literature search revealed that temporary skeletal anchorage allows the surgeon and orthodontist to predictably make changes to the jaw bones that were previously only possible with orthognathic surgery. Before installing a mini-screw or mini-plate, careful planning in the form of an examination and x-ray examination should be carried out. Ultimately, informed consent should be obtained explaining to the patient that orthognathia may still be necessary if the skeletal anchorage method fails. Although this is still a relatively new technique, some issues need to be considered and further clinical research is needed.