Retrospective study of face mask therapy

Kim, Tae Woo; Chang, Young Il; Nahm, Dong Seok

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the skeletal, dental and soft tissue profile changes following the face mask therapy in growing skeletal class III malocclusion patients. The fifteen patients with the good results were selected among the patients who visited the Department of Orthodontics in Seoul National University Hospital. The mean age was 10.63(range 7.25-13.25) years and the mean treatment duration was 9.84(range 2.00-27.00) months. Lateral cephalograms were taken just before and after face mask application, After tracing the cephalograrns, thirty five items(twenty angular and fifteen linear) were measured, The differences before and after the face mask therapy were compared statistically by the paired t-test(p<0.05). The results were as follows; SNA and Co-A(effective maxillary length) increased significantly after using the face mask(p<0.001), which reflects the orthopedic changes of maxilla. SNB and Co-Gn(effective mandibular length) also showed an increase(p-0.01), which may be a result of the strong growth trends of the samples. FMA, SN-GoGn and Y-axis angle increased significantly(p<0.01), which means the backward and downward rotation of the mandible, This positional change seemed to have compensated an increase of effective mandibular length. There was no statistically significant difference in angulation of upper and lower incisors between pre-treatment and post-treatment(p>0.05). In soft tissue profile, the upper lip was positioned anteriorly(p<.01) after treatment and approximated to the normal standards.