Immediate and late follow-up effects of class III early correction in cleft lip and palate patients treated with maxillary protraction

Abstract Introduction There is no consensus about the immediate and latte follow-up effects of maxillary protraction in cleft lip and palate patients. Objective To evaluate the stability of Class III early treatment in cleft lip and palate patients through maxillary expansion and protraction. Material and method The sample consists in three lateral cephalometric radiographs of 28 patients (mean pre-treatment age of 6.7±1.8 years) who presented cleft lip and palate and were treated with maxillary expansion and Petit facial mask. The angular (SNA, SNB, ANB, SN.GoGn, FMA, Z Angle) and linear (overjet, Co-A, Co-Gn, Nperp-A, Nperp-Pg, AO-BO) cephalometric measures were evaluated through the Dolphin® software, in three moments: T0 (initial), T1 (after treatment), and T2 (follow-up). Data were submitted to the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey-Kramer test. The correlation between cephalometric measures and patient’s age was determined by Pearson’s chi-squared test. Result The SNA, ANB, and AO-BO measures increased considerably (p<0.05), and they did not present any differences compared to the initial ones after the follow-up time. The overjet measure increased (p<0.05) after treatment and, even with its decrease at the follow-up time, it was still higher than at the beginning (p<0.05). The Z angle showed improvement with treatment and remained stable at the follow-up time. Conclusion After treatment (maxillary expansion associated with protraction), there was a skeletal pattern improvement. During the follow-up period, those alterations decreased to a measure close to the beginning. There was an improvement in the dental pattern and facial profile that continued in the follow-up period.