Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of rapid maxillary expansion (RME) on the sagittal dental or skeletal parameters of growing children with Class II malocclusion.
Materials and methods: A systematic review intended to identify relevant literature was conducted. The search was performed on Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Scopus databases. Reference lists of the included articles were also screened for relevant documents. The qualitative assessment was performed according to the Methodological Index for Non-Randomized Studies (MINORS) tool, and the resultant data were grouped and analyzed concerning dental and skeletal sagittal effects of RME.
Results: Of 25 screened studies, seven articles met eligibility criteria and were included. Study samples were observed during mixed dentition stage and characterized as having either Class II dental malocclusion or skeletal discrepancy. None of the included studies was a randomized clinical trial. Included controlled studies presented several inadequacies related to control group or lacked appropriate comparative statistical analysis. Besides being frequently based on deficient methodology, dental and skeletal sagittal effects of RME were either controversial or lacked clinical relevance.
Conclusion: The effect of RME on the sagittal dimension of Class II malocclusions has not been proved yet. Future randomized controlled clinical trials are still needed to definitely address this question.
Keywords: Angle Class II; Malocclusion; Palatal expansion technique.