Using the Novel “3D-Ortho” Concept to Achieve a Beautiful Asian Face

Abstract

It has become more common for adult patients to seek conflicting orthodontic results, such as the reduction of the buccal corridors by arch form expansion and achieving esthetic-line (E-line) harmony by moving the anterior teeth backward using the extraction space. Therefore, the author devised and implemented the novel “3D-Ortho” concept to achieve the abovementioned conflicting results and solve the requirement of facial beauty. The patient was a 23-year-old female with mouth protrusion. The author used the 3D-Ortho concept to provide orthodontic treatment. A maxillary skeletal expander appliance and the extraction of the maxillary first premolar were performed, and a multi-bracket device was placed on the buccal aspect to decrease Mx1 to point A-pogonion line (APo) by full class II molar relationship finishing. Postoperatively, the nasolabial angle was increased from 83.4° to 93.1°, the E-line to upper lip distance decreased from 2.6 mm to −1.1 mm, the Mx1 to Apo distance decreased from 13.6 mm to 7.5 mm, the distance between the mesial buccal cusp of the mandibular first molars increased from 41.2 mm to 45.2 mm, the inclination of the mandibular first molar incisor changed from 21° to 11° on the right side and from 21° to 9° on the left side, and the improvement of the buccal corridors was observed; thus, significant improvement was observed in these parameters. Therefore, the novel orthodontic treatment method showed good results in solving problems unique to Asians, incorporating occlusal stability and facial beauty harmony.