Success rate of anterior open-bite orthodontic-orthognathic surgical treatment

Introduction: The aim was to evaluate the short-term success rate of combined orthodontic-orthognathic surgical correction of anterior open bite. Methods: Fifteen patients (ages, 15-28 years) with open bite treated with a combined orthodontic-surgical approach were examined. Lateral cephalograms from before treatment, after treatment, and after an average of 18 months (range, 10-26 months) of retention were evaluated. Overbite was classified as normal (2-3.5 mm), borderline (0-1.5 mm), or relapse (<0 mm), and overjet as normal (2-3.5 mm) or relapse (>= 4 and <= 1.5 mm). Results: The average overbite was -3.2 mm before treatment, 1.8 mm after treatment, and 1.3 mm after retention. During active treatment, overbite and overjet were normalized in 53.3% and 66.7% of the subjects, respectively. After the retention period, 1 patient (6.7%) showed a negative overbite, whereas a borderline overbite was found in 53.3% of the subjects. Overjet relapsed in 40% of the subjects. Only 40% of the patients had a completely successful treatment with incisal contact and normal overjet and overbite. Conclusions: Orthodontic-surgical treatment of anterior open bite improves the overbite, but an excellent treatment outcome with normal overjet and overbite and proper incisal contact was achieved in only 40% of the subjects. (Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop 2010;138:716-9)