[Indications and implications of surgical maxillary expansion in orthodontic surgery]

Surgically assisted rapid maxillary expansion is an accepted method for correction of transverse skeletal and dental discrepancies. The surgical technique includes a Lefort I osteotomy with medial palatine osteotomy. The maxillary must be totally released to achieve the desired expansion. There are several advantages: bone apposition in osteotomy sites, reduced risk of dental version or extrusion compared with orthopedic care, secondary surgical cure of complex dysmorphism requiring fewer segmentary osteotomies. Finally, we examined skeletal side effects induced by surgically assisted rapid maxillary expansion in the vertical and sagittal dimension of the face.