Aim of the study: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of corticotomy-assisted orthodontics on the rate of miniscrew supported en-masse retraction of maxillary anterior teeth.
Materials and methods: The sample of this study included 20 adult female patients with an age range 18-27 years that needed fixed orthodontic mechanotherapy which included extraction of upper first premolars and anterior en-masse retraction. The sample was divided equally into 2 groups: Group 1 was extraction with corticotomy and Group 2 was extraction without corticotomy. Both groups were evaluated in terms of the rate of maxillary anterior teeth retraction and the amount of maxillary first permanent molar movement.
Results: Group 1 had higher maxillary en-masse retraction rate than Group 2 In the 1st, 2nd , 3rd , 4th and 5th month, Group 1 also showed statistically significantly higher mean anterior retraction rate than Group 2. In Group 1, the highest retraction rate was found in the 1st month, followed by the 2nd, 3rd, 4th month then 5th month with statistical significance in-between each. However in Control group, no statistically significant difference was reported between retraction rates at different times. Slight distal molar movement occurred in both groups but was not statistically significant
Conclusion: Corticotomy accelerates orthodontic tooth movement with increased rate of en-masse retraction compared to conventional orthodontics without corticotomy. No molar anchorage loss was observed. Mild distal molar movement occurred in both study groups and was slightly higher in Corticotomy group , however it was not statistically significant.