Longitudinal Stability of Rapid and Slow Maxillary Expansion: A Systematic Review

To review the long-term stability of slow maxillary expansion (SME) and rapid maxillary expansion (RME).

A systematic review of literature was carried out on the principal medical databases. Cephalometric studies, measurements on the dental casts, retrospective, cohort studies were kept as inclusion criteria. Last 20 years articles were included in the study. The studies where expansion had been performed by any one of the methods of expansion; that is, SME and RME were accepted. Studies where posttreatment follow-up had been performed were included. Selected articles were independently evaluated by three researchers. Discrepancies were resolved by discussion to reach a common consensus.

Total of 151 articles were first shown as relevant articles but after sorting the article according to relevancy in a stepwise manner 12 articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were incorporated in the study finally. In the study, nine prospective and three retrospective studies which had followed patients after maxillary expansion from 2 to 15 years were included.

Correction with slow and rapid palatal expansion appears to be stable in the long-term when followed for extended periods after expansion treatment.

The article clearly describes the effectiveness of the expansion treatment and its longitudinal stability in terms of relapse by providing various evidences from the literature which were sought after systematically searching the different electronic databases.