Effect of gnathological splint on craniofacial morphology

Abstract

Many orthodontic patients have displaced disks and unstable mandibular positions If orthodontic treatment is done without stabilizing the mandible, the treatment result will not be satisfactory Current orthodontic philosophy advocates that diagnosis should be made with the patient's mandible in centric relation stabilized by a full-coverage gnathological repositioning splint if the patient's mandible is unstable We examined cephalometrically the effect the gnathological splint had on patients Lateral cephalograms were taken of 31 female patients before and after splint therapy Measurements of cephalograms were analysed by the Roth-Jarabak, Powell, Ricketts and Steiner methods The paired t-test was used to assess whether measurements of post-splint cephalograms were significantly defferent from those of the initial cephalograms Statistically significant differences were found betweeen initial and post-splint cepahlograms for 8 of the 14 items in the Roth-Jarabak analysis, 2 of the 4 items in the Powell analysis, 8 of the 12 items in the Ricketts analysis, and 11 of the 16 items in the Stemer analysis Morphological changes between the initial and post-splint cephalograms showed that the body of the mandible rotated backward and the condyles were seated in the most superior and anterior position against the posterior slope of the emmentia Labial tipping movement of the maxillary incisors and mesial bodily movement of maxillary molars were observed Orthopedic forward movement of the maxilla caused by force from the splint was not seen