Vertical changes in high-angle Class II, division 1 patients treated with cervical or occipital pull headgear

Before, after, and 2 years after treatment serial radiographs of two samples of patients with high mandibular plane angle Class II, Division 1 nonextraction who were treated were evaluated retrospectively. One sample comprised patients treated with cervical headgear (CHG), and the other was treated with occipital headgear (OPHG). No significant differences were found when mandibular plane angle or facial height changes, anterior or posterior, were compared. Regarding vertical changes, only maxillary molar height, relative to both sella-nasion and palatal plane, and occlusal plane angle changes were significantly different when cervical and occipital-pull headgear were compared. In both groups of patients, responses to treatment were highly variable and only subtle vertical differences were apparent between mean changes in the cervical and occipital-pull samples.