Recently, distraction or compression osteogenesis has been used to treat jaw deformities. The anterior alveolar segment of the maxilla and mandible is moved posteriorly en bloc using a skeletal anchorage device combined with corticotomy to shorten the treatment period for maxillary or mandibular protrusion in adults. This method has many advantages. For example, the invasiveness of surgery is slight and the treatment period can be greatly shortened.
We studied the effects of orthodontic treatment combined with/without corticotomy for maxillary protrusion compared to that using the three-dimensional finite element method. Three-dimensional models were developed based on the geometrical model reconstructed from computed tomography. To evaluate the mechanical characteristics of these methods, the following three items were compared: 1) the displacement of the anteriortooth, 2) the displacement of the anterior alveolar segment, and 3) the distribution of the stresses. Greater displacement of anterior tooth and segment were achieved with corticotomy, and the stresses concentrated at the region of corticotomy. These findings suggest that orthodontic treatment combined with corticotomy is useful.
