Abstract
The extraction of the first premolar is performed for addressing the chief complaint in many orthodontic treatment cases associated with crowding of the anterior teeth. However, depending on the status of the individual teeth and periodontal tissue, cortical bone condition, occlusal condition, and prosthesis condition, extraction of teeth other than the first premolars is often considered. Herein, we report the skeletal and occlusion changes observed before and after treatment in a 28-year-and-one-month old female patient whose chief complaints were severe crowding and mandibular prognathism when she first presented at our hospital. The patient was undergoing dentition enlargement with a removable orthodontic appliance at another clinic but had discontinued the orthodontic treatment due to the interruption of her visits to the clinic. We decided to perform surgical orthodontic treatment with bilateral maxillary canine extraction following orthodontic examination and diagnosis, which revealed marked gingival recession and thinning of the cortical bone in the right maxillary canine according to CBCT findings. No significant changes, such as gingival recession, were observed in the bilateral maxillary canine region on removing the orthodontic appliance compared to the initial examination. Surgical orthodontic treatment improved the morphological inconsistency at the origin of the patient’s chief complaint, resulting in functional occlusion.
