Orthopedic cervical headgear with an expanded inner bow in class II correction

Forty consecutively referred children, 20 boys and 20 girls, with a Class II division I malocclusion and protrusive maxilla were treated with orthopedic cervical headgear with a 10 mm expanded inner bow and a long outer bow bent 15 degrees upwards. The mean age of the children at the beginning of treatment was 9.3 years (SD 1.3, range 6.6 to 12.4 years), and the average treatment time was 1.8 years (SD 0.6, range 0.8 to 3.1 years). In all patients Class II molar relationships were successfully corrected to Class I molar relationships. This was accompanied by a marked widening of both maxillary and mandibular dental arches. The cephalometric analysis suggested that the observed improvement of the occlusion was due to an inhibition of forward growth of the maxilla and anterior downward rotation of the palate.