Surgical orthodontic treatment of jaw deformity with marked maxillo-mandibular dental arch disharmony sometimes requires surgical expansion or reduction of the dentition, and various types of surgical methods have been reported. In this study, surgical lateral expansion was performed in two cases of jaw deformity with a constricted maxillary dental arch, using the Le Fort I osteotomy with a parasagittal split of the palatine bone reported by Obwegeser.
In case 1, since relapse after postoperative orthodontic treatment was not taken into account, the dental arch widthdecreased. In case 2, although surgical expansion was insufficient due to marked constriction of the maxillary dentition, lateral expansion by postoperative orthodontic treatment was performed, and expansion of the maxillary dental arch was possible.
This method was considered useful, since greater palatine arteriovenous and tooth root injury can be avoided. Furthermore, although control of postoperative relapse is important, our results suggested that the maxillary dental arch can be further expanded bypostoperative orthodontic treatment.
