[Functional therapy of Class II Division 1. Comparison of three activators: Andresen, Fränkel and Teuscher]

A comparative study is reported about the efficiency of three activators (Andresen, Fränkel and Teuscher) in the treatment of Class II Division 1 malocclusions in a group of patients with different facial types.

A group of 20 patients in mixed dentition has been selected. The subjects were between 8 and 14 years old, provided with a complete radiographic documentation, treated in the Odontological Clinic of the University of Verona for a period no longer than 24 months. The study has been made using a cephalometric informatic program with a graphic computer. After a revision of orthopaedic functional literature, cephalometric values which, according to personal opinion, reflect the modifications occurred during treatment and growth have been chosen. Then these values have been reported in a triplic analytic configuration.

The achieved results in each group of patients with the three activators have been examined analyzing structural modifications produced in the skeletric and in the dento-alveolar region. The comparison between the results obtained with the three activators and the findings reported in the majority of literature hasn't shown great disagreements.

In the correction of Class II Division 1 malocclusions Andresen appliance is valid in subjects with normal/hypodivergent skeletric structure, while in patients with a facial type tending to "dolicocephal" the Fränkel function regulator and, in particular, Teuscher activator combined with extraoral traction have produced positive results with a contemporary correction of the sagittal skeletric discrepance.