Unilateral cross bite treated by corticotomy-assisted expansion: Two case reports

Abstract

Background: True unilateral posterior crossbite in adults is a challenging malocclusion to treat. Conventional expansion methods are expected to have some shortcomings. The aim of this paper is to introduce a new technique for treating unilateral posterior crossbite in adults, namely, corticotomy-assisted expansion (CAE) applied on two adult patients: one with a true unilateral crossbite and the other with an asymmetrical bilateral crossbite, both treated via modified corticotomy techniques and fixed orthodontic appliances.Methods: Two cases with asymmetric maxillary constriction were treated using CAE.Results: In both cases, effective asymmetrical expansion was achieved using CAE, and functional occlusion was established as well.Conclusions: Unilateral CAE presents an effective and reliable technique to treat true unilateral crossbite. © 2010 Hassan et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.