[A review of the effectiveness and long-term stability of the functional appliance]

The orthopedic treatment of the orthodontics is a typical and crucial technique and method that uses functional appliances to fully work out the potentials of the jaws and muscles, and accordingly to correct the functional or mild skeletal malocclusions in pre-pubertal children and adolescents. A successful orthopedic treatment involves its short-time effectiveness and its long-term stability. For many years, however, the effectiveness of the functional appliance is controversial and the long-term stability of the functional appliance has always been overlooked. Thus, with an aim of presenting guidelines on orthopedic treatment, the effectiveness and the long-term stability of the functional appliance are discussed in this article.