Nonextraction treatment of an open bite with microscrew implant anchorage

A 16-year-old girl with an anterior open bite was treated with nonextraction therapy that included intrusion of the maxillary and mandibular posterior teeth with microscrew implants. Implants (diameter, 1.2 mm; length, 8 or 6 mm) were placed into alveolar bone near the posterior teeth and used as anchorage for intrusive force. To prevent adverse side effects of buccoversion or linguoversion of the posterior teeth during intrusion, a transpalatal bar and a lingual arch were placed. The 3-mm anterior open bite was corrected in 11 months of treatment, after intrusion of the maxillary and mandibular posterior teeth and autorotation of the mandible. The posterior intrusion relapsed in the early stage of retention, at 8 months; thereafter, no obvious relapse was evident in the vertical position of the molars and the FMA. The treatment mechanics of anterior open bite with posterior intrusion by using microscrew implants were effective but still require a proper retention protocol.