Long-term stability of early anterior open bite treatment by magnetic and spring-loaded bite blocks

Introduction: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the long-term stability of open bite correction with spring-loaded and magnetic bite blocks. Materials and Methods: A total of 14 patients out of the original sample of 20 were evaluated clinically and cephalometrically at post-treatment, post-retention, and 4.2 years after retention. Of 14 patients, eight were from spring-loaded bite block group, while remaining six were from magnetic bite block group. Normality of data was checked with Shapiro Wilk test and one-way repeated measures analysis of variance was used to compare the values at different time intervals. Pearson correlation analysis was used to examine the correlations between various cephalometric variables. Results: Clinically, decrease in overiet and increase in overbite were evident in 12 patients, while two patients showed nonsignificant decrease in overbite. Skeletal changes in the form of the closure of mandibular plane angle, clockwise rotation of palatal plane, and significant increase in posterior face height were seen. Molar intrusion relapsed in the follow-up period but was compensated by the incisor extrusion. Overall, the success rate of 85.8% was seen. Conclusion: Stability of early treatment with active bite blocks is comparable to any other treatment modality for correction of mild-to-moderate skeletal open bite cases. Importance of retention using the passive bite blocks needs further evaluation.