Comparison of the effects of rapid maxillary expansion forces applied at different frequencies

AİM: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of the force generated by the 2x1/1x1/1x2 and 2x1 activation protocols on dental, alveolar and skeletal structures on dental casts and posteroanterior films and compare the results according to the developmental stages (pre-pubertal, pubertal and post-pubertal) determined according to the cervical vertebral maturation method. MATERİALS AND METHODS: In our study, there were 54 patients (26 female and 28 male) with maxillary deficiency. The patients were divided into 6 groups,22 patients in the semirapid activation group,(pre-pubertal-6, pubertal-8,post-pubertal-8), and 32 patients in the rapid activation group,(pre-pubertal-11,pubertal-11,post-pubertal-10). Dental casts and posteroanterior, lateral cephalometric film were taken from each patient before expansion and at the end of the 3-month retention to evaluate the effects of treatment. The Kruskal Wallis analysis was used to evaluate the treatment effects within groups. Bonferroni-corrected Mann Whitney U Test was used for pairwise comparisons between groups of two different activation protocols. RESULTS: In the intra-group comparison results of the semi-rapid activation protocol, the maxillary width in the posteroanterior film measurements of the pre-pubertal group, compared to the pubertal and post-pubertal groups, and in the plaster model measurements, the distance of 3-3 K, 4-4 G, 5-5 F, 5-5 G is prepubertal group compared to the other groups and the 3-3 G, 4-4 F, 6-6 F, 6-6 G distance increased statistically significantly in the prepubertal group compared to the postpubertal group. In the inter-group comparison of the prepubertal period, there was a statistically significant increase in nasal width in posteroanterior film measurements and in all dental distance measurements in dental cast measurements. CONCLUSİON: It was observed that the pre-pubertal group of the semi-rapid activation protocol provided more skeletal and dental increases compared to the other groups in both inter-group and intra-group comparisons.