INTRAORAL MOLAR DISTALIZATION APPLIANCES: A REVIEW

Recently there has been an increase in demand toward various conservative treatment methods to avoid extraction of healthy teeth and to increase patient compliance. Eliminating the need of extraction involves the correction of malocclusion which will result in improvement in facial profile, aesthetics and smile without loss of permanent tooth/teeth. In cases with minimal arch length discrepancy and angles class II molar relationship with orthognathic mandible and maxilla, distalization of molars creates additional space within the arch. Many appliances for class II correction need patient compliance, for example, headgears, elastics, etc. which may delay treatment results if the patient does not follow the instructions. Therefore there is a need for appliances which reduces patient compliance and gives effective results. This article reviews various intraoral appliances and methods for molar distalization.