The clinical cases presented here involve skeletal Class III malocclusion cases treated with maxillary protraction in a relaticely short period of time with good results. When used on young patients, satisfactory results were obtained in a short period of time, but even for those with less growth potential remainig, skeletal enhancement was still evident. However, data on the criteria of diagnosis or relapse following maxillary protraction is limited despite the number of studies on the subiect. The present study could not incude the observations on retention and relapse, and further studies in the future may include such observations.
Diagnosis ; Humans ; Malocclusion ; Orthopedics ; Recurrence

OBJECTIVE: Soft tissue changes due to orthodontic treatment has large individual variation. Therefore continuous evaluation during treatment is required. Patients with fixed orthodontic appliances often wonder if their lip positions will change after the removal of brackets, but only a few studies exist on this topic. The objective of this study was to evaluate the changes of the lips and perioral soft tissue after bracket removal. METHODS: The sample used in this study was 19 males and 33 females. Cephalometric X-rays were taken at 3 stages - T1 (before debonding), T2 (just after debonding), T3 (1.5 months after debonding). RESULTS: The lower lip was retruded immediately after debonding (T2-T1), and 1.5 months after debonding (T3-T2). The mean amounts of retrusion from the vertical reference plane (sG perpendicular line) were about 0.38 mm for the upper lip and 0.88 mm for the lower lip. Immediately after debonding, lip retrusion of females was greater than that of males. During the post-debonding period, lower lip of males was retruded more than that of females. CONCLUSION: Lips are retruded after bracket removal, and there is no gender difference 1.5 months after debonding.
Female ; Humans ; Lip* ; Male ; Orthodontic Appliances

Fiber reinforced composite (FRC) is usually used as a connector joining a few teeth into one unit in orthodontics. However, fracture often occurs during the two to three years of the orthodontic treatment period due to repeated occlusal loading or water sorption in the oral environment. We simulated the repair by overlapping and attaching portions of two FRC strips in the middle and performed a three-point bending test to investigate the changes of the repair strength among the different FRC groups. The specimens were grouped according to the overlapping lengths of the two FRC strips, which were 1, 2, 3 and 4 mm (group E1, E2, E3 and E4, respectively) and the control group consisted of unrepaired, intact FRC strips. Each group consisted of 6 specimens and were cured with a light emitting diode curing unit. Group E4 showed the highest maximum loads of 2.67 N, then the control group (2.39 N), group E3 (2.35 N), E2 (2.10 N), and E1 (1.75 N) in decreasing order. Group E4 also showed the highest stiffness, which was 2.32 N/mm, however, the stiffness of group E3 (2.06 N/mm) was higher than that of the control group (1.88 N/mm). According to the visual examination, the specimens tended to be bent rather than being fractured into two pieces with an increased length of overlapping portions. The above results suggest that a minimum overlapping length of 3 mm was necessary to obtain an adequate repair of a 10 mm length of FRC connector. In addition, the critical section adjacent to the joint area, where the thickness decreased abruptly, should be reinforced with flowable resin to minimize the bending tendency.
Joints ; Orthodontics ; Tooth ; Water

Fiber reinforced composite (FRC) has been widely used in operative and prosthetic fields of dentistry and its use is expanding into the orthodontic field. The purpose of this study was to examine the changes of flexural properties of FRC reinforced with silica glass fiber (FibreKor(R), Jeneric/Pentron Inc., Wallingford, U.S.A.) according to the duration of water absorption. Specimens were grouped according to their shape as round and rectangular cross sections, and were immersed in distilled water at room temperature (23 degrees C) for 0 hour, 1 hour, 1 week, 15 days, 1 month and 3 months. The number of specimens was 5 for each duration and bending test was done using a torque tester. The flexural stiffness after 24 hour water immersion was reduced to 59% for round specimens and 25% for rectangular specimens and after 3 months of water immersion it was reduced to 29% and 19% stiffness of the 0 hour-specimen respectively. Yield flexural moment after 24 hour water immersion was reduced to 45% for round specimens and 76% for rectangular specimens and after 3 months of water immersion it was reduced to 29% and 60% stiffness of the 0 hour-specimen respectively. Ultimate flexural moment after 24 hour water immersion was reduced to 36% for round specimens and 76% for rectangular specimens and after 3 months of water immersion it was reduced to 25% and 37% stiffness of 0 hour-specimen respectively. Those results suggested that the flexural stiffness of FibreKor(R) decreased greatly after initial water immersion. Consequently, further research for the maintenance of strength against water will be necessary.
Absorption* ; Dentistry ; Glass ; Immersion ; Silicon Dioxide ; Torque ; Water*