A COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF SAGITTAL CORRECTION WITH THE HERBST APPLIANCE IN 2 DIFFERENT ETHNIC-GROUPS

The dentofacial morphology of Chinese is different from Caucasians. Th e purpose of this investigation was to assess the skeletal and dental changes contributing to the sagittal correction in a group of consecut ive Chinese children who were treated with the Herbst appliance. A com parison was made between 14 Chinese and 14 Swedish subjects who all ha d Herbst appliance treatment. All subjects were corrected from the Cla ss II division 1 malocclusion to an overcorrected Class I or Class III dental relationship within a 6-8 month period. Lateral cephalograms t aken before and immediately after the Herbst treatment were analysed. In general, the skeletal and dental changes during treatment were comp arable between both ethnic groups. However, individual variations with in the two groups were wide. It can be concluded that the Herbst appli ance was equally successful in Southern Chinese children and similar t reatment changes as those achieved in Swedish children could be found.