A Class III case--but how severe?

The treatment of a clinically moderately severe, crowded, Class III malocclusion in a pre-pubertal 12-year-old female patient, is described. At diagnosis, some difficulty was experienced in determining the severity of the skeletal element of the malocclusion. A treatment plan was chosen which permitted extensive lingual repositioning of the lower labial segment and the result remained stable several years out of retention. The reasons for this success, and the problems of reconciling cephalometric analysis with clinical judgement, are discussed.