Objective: This study was designed to evaluate the effect of corticotomy and miniplates' usage as skeletal anchorage for maxillary molars' intrusion during correction of skeletal anterior open bite (SAOB). Patients, materials and methods:
A sample of 22 patients with an age range from 14 to 22 years, suffering from skeletal anterior open bite with increased posterior maxillary vertical height. The participants were randomly divided into two groups according to the corticotomy approach. Group I: both buccal and palatal corticotomies were performed. Group II: only buccal corticotomy was performed. Buccal miniplates and palatal mini-screws were used as skeletal anchorage for maxillary molars' intrusion assisted by corticotomy. The measurements, including maxillary dento-alveolar heights (mm), bucal crestal alveolar
bone heights (mm), bucco-palatal angulations (B-P˚) and mesio-distal angulations (M-D˚) of right and left maxillary first permanent molars, 4.5 months after intrusion commencement. Results: The dento-alveolar height as well as the buccal crestal alveolar height decreased significantly after intrusion in both groups (p≤0.001 and p≤0.05, respectively), but without significant differences between them. Similarly, the M-D and B-P angulations increased significantly after intrusion in both groups (p≤0.01 and p≤0.001, respectively), with no significant differences between both groups. Conclusions: The current corticotomy approaches and temporary anchorage devices (TADs) were similarly effective for maxillary molar intrusion in cases of (SAOB), but complete correction of SAOB was not achieved. Both the posterior maxillary
dento-alveolar and buccal crestal alveolar bone heights diminished similarly in both corticotomy methods. Neither mesio-distal nor bucco-palatal angulations of maxillary first permanent molar crown revealed major changes in matching both approaches of intrusion.