Unilateral cross bite treated by corticotomy-assisted expansion: two case reports

BACKGROUND: True unilateral posterior crossbite in adults is a challenging malocclusion to treat. Conventional expansion methods are expected to have some shortcomings. The aim of this paper is to introduce a new technique for treating unilateral posterior crossbite in adults, namely, corticotomy-assisted expansion (CAE) applied on two adult patients: one with a true unilateral crossbite and the other with an asymmetrical bilateral crossbite, both treated via modified corticotomy techniques and fixed orthodontic appliances. METHODS: Two cases with asymmetric maxillary constriction were treated using CAE. RESULTS: In both cases, effective asymmetrical expansion was achieved using CAE, and functional occlusion was established as well. CONCLUSIONS: Unilateral CAE presents an effective and reliable technique to treat true unilateral crossbite.