The Therapeutic Approaches Dealing with Malocclusion Type III—Narrative Review

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization, malocclusion type III is third, most important oral health problem. It may be the least prevalent malocclusion, but it is the most noticeable and challenging for orthodontic therapy. With this narrative review, we wanted to give a summation of the most current knowledge about diagnostics, different therapy options, limitations, and additional factors that can influence the therapy of class III malocclusion to help clinicians and researchers focus on the specific approaches. Therapy options were divided into the following groups: orthopedic, orthodontic, and surgical. The SNA, SNB, and ANB angles (cephalometric values) are the best ones to examine improvements in different skeletal improvements, while dentoalveolar improvements were also described, emphasizing the limitation of orthopedic therapy to change the skeletal discrepancy. Eruption-guided appliances and chin cups are more effective in early childhood, mixed dentition, during permanent teeth eruption, with no significant skeletal discrepancy. If a discrepancy exists, a face mask is the first therapy choice. The therapy of an underdeveloped maxilla can be solved with different palate expanders. Bulkiness, lack of long-term results, and duration of therapy make fixed orthodontic appliances with braces and elastic traction favorable nowadays. If the skeletal discrepancy is major, a surgical approach should be considered. One of the main limitations in articles is the combination of different therapy approaches, ages, and dentition preferred for device application, duration of therapy, and lack of information about long-term outcomes. On the other hand, the lack of original articles is noticeable, so further research should be done.