ArticleJournal of orofacial orthopedics = Fortschritte der Kieferorthopadie : Organ/official journal Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Kieferorthopadie2026
Upper arch expansion and spontaneous upper first molar distorotation with Ni-Ti leaf springs and rapid maxillary expander compared to clear aligners : A randomized controlled trial.
Article in Journal of orofacial orthopedics = Fortschritte der Kieferorthopadie : Organ/official journal Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Kieferorthopadie, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThis study aimed to compare the distorotation of the upper first molars (U6) and the expansion of the upper dental arch achieved using clear aligners (CA), Leaf Expander® (LE; Leone, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy), and rapid maxillary expander (RME), all anchored to the second primary molars. MATERIALS AND
methodsThe research was structured as a superiority randomized controlled trial conducted in two academic medical centers in Italy. Participants included children in growth phase presenting transverse maxillary deficiency with intermolar width less than 30 mm, early mixed dentition with fully erupted upper first molars, and a cervical vertebral maturation stage (CVMS) 1 or 2, without systemic diseases or syndromes. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of the three treatment groups: CA, LE, or RME. The main variable measured was the distorotation of U6, with secondary variables including the width between canines, first molars, and second primary molars.
resultsIn all, 60 subjects were randomized equally into the three groups. Average treatment time was 8 ± 3 months for the LE group and 9 ± 1 months for the RME group (p = 0.089). Mean treatment time for the CA group was 15 months with a standard deviation of 2 months. A significant difference was observed in the number of clinical visits: 6 ± 2 for LE and 8 ± 1 for RME (p < 0.001). The RME group completed the active treatment phase in 10 ± 2 days, which was notably shorter than the 3.5 ± 0.71 months required for the LE group (p < 0.001). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed statistically significant differences among the groups in terms of U6 distorotation (p < 0.05), whereas no significant differences were found for the expansion of the upper arch. Overall molar distorotation was highest in the LE group (11.73°), surpassing the RME group (6.22°), and was similar to the result observed in the CA group (11.89°).
conclusionBoth CA and maxillary expanders fixed to upper primary molars produced comparable levels of dentoalveolar expansion. The spontaneous distorotation of the U6 obtained with LE was similar to the planned distorotation achieved with CA and significantly higher than that observed with RME.
Indexed as
Identifiers
41817693What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.