Guidelines for assessing the growth and development of orthodontic patients

This paper provides guidelines for determining treatment objectives and evaluating posttreatment outcomes. More specifically, it reviews our current understanding of growth and maturation, focusing on the most salient aspects that apply to individual patients. Pretreatment diagnostics and treatment objectives will be addressed first, focusing initially on adjustments necessary based on the patient's somatic growth and maturity. Estimates of craniofacial growth that can be applied to individual patients when developing treatment objectives are then provided, along with the approach used to apply them. It will be shown how the estimates are adjusted, depending on the patient's sex, age, and growth patterns. These adjusted growth estimates are also used to evaluate posttreatment changes. Orthodontists must be able to separate the treatment changes from the growth changes that occur. The application of these guidelines will be demonstrated on three patients.