Miniscrew-Assisted Palatal Expansion and Airway Volume Changes; A Systematic Review

Background and Objective: Palatal expansion can be done with tooth-borne and bone-borne appliances; Bone maturity is one of the factors required placing a mini-screw in the palate for expansion. Expansion with bone-based appliance also has two dental and skeletal responses; Part of the skeletal response can be to increase the size of the airway. The present study evaluates the effect of Miniscrew-assisted palatal expansion on airway volume.Methods: Search was conducted for articles published between January ۲۰۱۰ to January ۲۰۲۱ in PubMed, Embase, Google Scholar, and Cochrane using the following inclusion criteria: ۱) patients whose treatment with Miniscrew-assisted palatal expansion and who with transverse discrepancy ۲) all languages, ۳) Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) or non-randomized clinical trials (Non-RCTs) and retrospective studies were considered.Results: Of the ۱۲۳ studies on miniscrew-assisted palatal expansion, only ۷ studies clinically evaluated the effect of miniscrew-assisted palatal expansion on airway dimensions. The results of studies show that the miniscrew-assisted palatal expansion increasing airway dimensions; so that, increased nasal cavity volume and nasopharyngeal volume have been observed following this treatment. However, studies have shown that this approch does not effect on oropharyngeal, palatopharyngeal, glossopharyngeal and posterior areas.Conclusion: The results of the study demonstrated that Miniscrew-assisted palatal expansion is an effective and efficient treatment in increasing airway dimensions via its increasing nasal cavity and nasopharynx volume. 

Keywords:

Maxillary expansion , Palatal expansion , Miniscrew-assisted palatal expansion , Airway dimension