An analysis of orthodontic relapse

Date
1973
DOI
Authors
Pezza, Joseph E.
Version
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
Orthodontic treatment often changes a patient’s appearance so radically, that his very personality is greatly improved. Even minor orthodontic changes are rewarding and satisfying to both the orthodontist and the patient. If there is to be one area in orthodontic results which promotes disappointment and frustration most often, relapse must be this area. Thus, it is the intention of this paper to present the incidence of retention problems, specifically lower incisor recrowding, intercanine and intermolar width stability, rotational stability, activity of extraction sites, and the influence of third molars on the extraction site and on the incisor recrowding. Forty-two cases were selected which underwent and completed active orthodontic treatment. Their records taken two to four years after treatment were compared to records taken at the time of treatment completion and again compared to their pre-treatment records. The data were analyzed. The results indicated that lower incisor recrowding is the most common occurrence, intercanine and intermolar expansion during treatment is not stable, rotational relapse is high, opening of extraction spaces is common, and the influence of third molars is highly questionable. Due to the limited number of cases examined it is not clinically significant to draw accurate conclusions. However, the results show correlations among the various relapse areas. Favorable progress has been made in an attempt to solve the retentions problem, but much further research is needed in this area.
Description
License
This work is being made available in OpenBU by permission of its author, and is available for research purposes only. All rights are reserved to the author.