Effectiveness of corticotomy compared to traditional technique of orthodontic treatment

Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of corticotomy (selective alveolar decortication) treatment when performed by private practitioners to traditional orthodontic treatment. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was designed to compare 46 patients treated using the corticotomy procedure to 44 patients treated with traditional treatment, both in permanent dentition. The corticotomy procedures and the traditional orthodontic treatments were performed by the same 4 private practitioners. Case complexity was measured using pretreatment PAR scores and Discrepancy index. Outcome measures were post-treatment PAR score, percentage PAR reduction and Objective Grading System measuring occlusal outcome, and treatment duration. Results: Patients in the corticotomy group (37.0 ± 10.5 years) were about 22 years older than patients in the traditional treatment group (14.7 ± 4.1) (p<0.0001). Using linear regression to control for confounders at baseline, there were no differences between the corticotomy and traditional treatment group in starting case complexity. Also, no difference in occlusal outcome was found between corticotomy and traditional treatment, after controlling for confounders such as gender, age, race, and tooth extraction. A difference in treatment duration was seen, with cases in the corticotomy group (13.5 ± 7.0 months) having significantly shorter treatment time than those in the traditional group (30.1 ± 10.4 months) (p<0.0001). This difference remained after controlling for confounders using linear regression. Conclusion: The corticotomy procedure is as effective as traditional orthodontic treatment, with substantially shorter treatment duration.