Facts about Maxillary Expansion in Adults: Fracture or Remodeling?

Orthopedic maxillary expansion in adults opens a variety of nonsurgical/nonextraction treatment options in severe dentofacial skeletal discrepancies. Due to the morphological complexity of the facial sutures, however, an evidence-based expansion strategy is crucial. Based on the understanding on micrstructure of human facial sutures and biomechanics of MARPE, a reasonagle expansion protocol will be presented. Supplementary questions such as maximum possible age for orthopedic correction and resolution in the failure cases will be demonstrated.

Learning Objectives:

• Apply proper expansion protocol based on sound interpretation of the suture response.
• Find optimal expander design according to age and purpose.
• Better understand the strength of transverse correction in a variety of skeletal discrepancies.