Non-surgical Maxillary Suture Opening in Adults

The secure position of four orthodontic mini-implants in the anterior palate allows the transmission of great expansive forces via a pure bone-borne expander (MICRO4 expander). A novel force controlling and polycyclic activation protocol (FcPc), with twice a day opening and closing the hyrax screw, allows to weaken and subsequently widen the mid palatal suture in patients between 18 and 57 years up to 17mm without the need for surgical assistance. With this technique the opening force is limited, - not exceeding 500cN at the end of the activating wrench. Following this procedure for up to four months, the success rate for reaching the desired and needed maxillary width is up to 80% without surgery.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the 4 keys to successful adult maxillary expansion: Correct anatomical position for palatal miniscrews, ideal miniscrew design, rigidity of the expander and novel force controlled polycyclic activation protocol.
• Differentiate between presently used straight forward opening protocols and the novel way of using an expander as a force measuring instrument in combination with polycyclic opening and closing.
• Use this knowledge to reduce your need of surgical assistance in adult maxillary expansion (80% success).