EFFICACY OF THE TRANSPALATAL ARCH – A COMBINED CLINICAL, EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION

Unilateral and bilateral crossbites are a common malocclusion found in many orthodontic patients. One possible treatment method for a crossbite in the anterior dental arch uses a transpalatal arch (TPA) which is placed between the first molars of the upper jaw. It was the aim of this pilot study to simulate the biomechanical behaviour of 10 patients using a specialized experimental set-up as well as numerical methods and compare the results with the clinical outcome.