Cortical bone thickness at common miniscrew implant placement sites with different vertical skeletal patterns in adults

To provide some references of using miniscrew implants in clinical orthodontic treatment, the bone thickness of maxilla and mandible of different vertical facial type in adults with cone-beam CT (CBCT) was measured.

57 scanned patients were selected as subjects. Among them, 20 were included in the high-angle group, 22 in the normal-angle group, and 15 in the low-angle group. On volumetric images, we measured the buccal and palatal cortical bone thickness of maxilla, the buccal cortical bone thickness of mandible from canine to the second molar teeth at heights of 4.0 mm from cemento-enamel junction (CEJ). The mean of cortical bone thickness was compared between three groups.

There were statistical differences among three different vertical facial groups in the cortical bone thickness (P＜0.05). The high-angle group has the thinnest cortical bone while the low-angle group has the thickest.

Clinicians should be aware of the probability of thin cortical bone plates and the risk of miniscrew implant failures at maxillary posterior miniscrew implant sites in high-angle patients.