The role of a high pull headgear in counteracting side effects from intrusion of the maxillary anterior segment

Intrusion of incisors is often the preferred treatment of a deep overbite. This study focuses on deep overbite correction by intrusion of maxillary incisors. The purpose of this study is to determine whether high-pull headgear wear can prevent steepening of the buccal segment, extrusion of the buccal segment, maintain arch width, and increase the rate of incisor intrusion. The number of patients needed for this study was calculated to be 20. Patients were between nine and 14 years of age and assigned to one of two groups. In each group, intrusion of maxillary incisors was performed. Patients in one group wore a high-pull headgear at night, and patients in the other group did not. For each patient, a lateral head film, impressions with a wax bite in centric occlusion, and intraoral photographs were taken at the beginning and end of intrusion. This study demonstrated that high-pull headgear had no effect on steepening and extrusion of the buccal segments or on the rate of intrusion but did have an effect on narrowing of the buccal segments. By performing intrusion as described in this study, no statistically significant side effects were observed in the buccal segments, whereas a statistically significant amount of incisor intrusion of 2.24 mm in the no-headgear group and 2.37 mm in the headgear group was observed.