Efficacy of Clear Aligners in Treating Class III Malocclusion With Mandibular Molar Distalization: A Systematic Review

Cureus. 2023 Nov 1;15(11):e48134. doi: 10.7759/cureus.48134. eCollection 2023 Nov.

Abstract

The primary goal of orthodontic therapy in pseudo-class III is to restore the proper dental connection by rectifying the canine and molar relationship to Class I through lower molar and premolar visualization, as well as providing normal anterior overjet. The purpose of this systematic study was to determine the efficacy of clear aligners in treating class III malocclusion with mandibular molar distalization. A wide range of searches were done on various search engines like Cochrane, Web of Science, Embase, PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar to collect relevant articles related to our study. This review's article selection was guided by the PRISMA flowchart. The electronic findings provided numerous articles with nearly 78 articles regarding clear aligners in class III malocclusion with molar distalization. From this, seven full-text papers were evaluated for eligibility criteria, with two articles being rejected with justification and five articles being elaborated in the current systematic review. The current evidence of this review suggested that the clear aligners were effective in correcting class III malocclusion with molar distalization. The amount of molar distalization is about 2 to 3 mm, which helps in achieving molar and canine relationship in class I, with a high compliance level and also improvement of the facial profile.

Keywords: class iii malocclusion; clear aligners; facial profile; mandibular molar distalization; mandibular prognathism; orthodontic therapy; third molar.

Publication types

  • Review