Nonsurgical correction of an adult skeletal class III and open-bite malocclusion

This case report presents an adult skeletal Class III and open-bite malocclusion case treated without surgical intervention using fixed edgewise technique, reverse headgear, and Class III and anterior box elastics. The patient was a 16-year-old Turkish female who had completed her growth and development. She had a four mm open bite, maxillary retrognathia, a crossbite in the anterior and left posterior, and hypoplasia of the maxillary laterals. In addition, the patient's first molars had previously been extracted because of caries, and extraction spaces were present. We applied a Roth edgewise appliance and a reverse headgear to be used at night only for the first six months. The objective in using a reverse headgear was to displace the maxillary teeth toward the mesial and to rotate the maxilla in a clockwise direction. In the mandible, we retracted the mandibular incisors and canine teeth and moved the second molars mesially toward the first molar extraction space. There would thus be no need for any prosthetic restoration in the mandible. At the end of treatment, we obtained a Class I dental relationship, an ideal occlusion relationship, and an esthetic dental and facial relationship. Treatment of the patient was completed in 20 months.