Orthodontic Mini-implants: Are They a Good Anchorage Resource for Cases of Retraction After Extraction?

Melo Pithon, Matheus; Lacerda dos Santos, Rogério; Tirre de Souza Araújo, Mónica; Cople Maia, Lucianne

Summary

The aim was to seek scientific evidence in the literature that orthodontic mini-implants provide absolute anchorage during the retraction of maxillary anterior teeth after pre-molar extractions. A search was undertaken in the two databases Ovid and Pub Med. The key words “miniscrew”, “mini-implants”, “orthodontic anchorage procedure”, “Anchorage loss”, “tooth movement” and “orthodontic space closure” were used. After the initial search, repeated articles in the databases were excluded, then selection was based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, using a table developed for this purpose. Of the 550 articles initially listed, 4 were found to be potentially eligible, ending with 3 being selected after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria. According to the quality required, only 3 of these articles attained a high enough score to be evaluated. Two of these articles showed absolute anchorage provided by mini-implants, and the other demonstrated slight loss of anchorage. There are strong scientific evidences that orthodontic mini-implants provide absolute anchorage during the retraction of maxillary teeth.

KEY WORDS: miniscrew, mini-implant, anchorage.

How to cite this article

PITHON, M. M.; DOS SANTO, R. L.; ARAÚJO, M. T. S. & MAIA, L. C. Orthodontic mini-implants: are they a good anchorage resource for cases of retraction after extraction? Int. J. Odontostomat., 6(3):369-374, 2012.