Evaluation of efficacy of utility arch with inter-maxillary elastics for treating skeletal deep bite with retroclined upper incisors in the mixed dentition: a clinical randomized controlled trial.

Objectives: To investigate the effectiveness of utility arch (UA) with inter-maxillary elastics compared with fixed anterior bite plane (FABP) for treating deep bite in brachy-facial children.

Materials and methods: This was a single-center, randomized controlled trial. Participants were children aged between 9 and 12 years with deep bite and a hypodivergent skeletal pattern. The sample was divided into the following two groups: (1) a UA group that was composed of patients with UAs with posterior inter-maxillary elastics and (2) an FABP group as a control. Outcomes were skeletal and dentoalveolar variables on cephalometric X-rays.

Results: A total of 28 patients (13 boys, 15 girls) with a mean age of 10.66 years were enrolled. The treatment duration was 8.16 months in the UA group and 7.22 months in the FABP group. After treatment, the angle between the anterior cranial base and the mandible in the vertical plane increased significantly (P = .000) in both groups (about 1.97 degrees in the UA group and 2.75 degrees in the FABP group). Overbite decreased significantly in both groups (-2.1 m in the UA group and -3.64 m in the FABP group), but it decreased less significantly in the UA group than in the FABP group. The upper incisors flared significantly after treatment with both appliances (6.6 degrees in the UA group and 5.9 degrees in the FABP group).

Conclusions: Treatment of deep bite in children with a horizontal growth pattern by each of the appliances used in this study is effective. The mandible showed minor, significant backward rotation after treatment. The overbite decreased less in the UA group than in the FABP group.