Skeletal open-bite treatment with zygomatic anchorage for a child with mental retardation: A new modality

Anterior open bite (AOB) is one of the most difficult malocclusions to treat and maintain in orthodontics. Malocclusion occurs more frequently in children with disabilities than in healthy children. Surgical correction of severe AOB often requires maxillary impaction to reduce the anterior facial height. The zygomatic buttress area could be a valuable anchorage site to achieve intrusion of maxillary posterior teeth. A 16-year-old boy with mental retardation showing signs of persistence of infantile behavior, decreased cognitive functioning, and psychomotor skill deficits (no identified syndrome) with an AOB was treated by intrusion of maxillary posterior teeth using I-shaped multipurpose titanium miniplate (SK Surgicals, India). A 7 mm AOB was corrected after 6 months of intrusion. The benefits of this treatment as an alternative to conventional orthodontic appliances are significant in subjects who lack the understanding or with manual dexterity to use an orthopedic appliance.