This case report presents the camouflage treatment of an adult patient with skeletal class III malocclusion and severe crowding who was treated with a passive self-ligating bracket system. A 15-year-old female patient presented with a chief complaint of asymmetric and concave profile due to mandibular prognathism and retrusive upper lip with severe maxillary and mandibular crowding and anterior crossbite. The treatment plan included double jaw orthognathic surgery for the correction of skeletal class III malocclusion and mandibular laterognathia. However, the patient refused this option because of surgical risks and costs. Since the patient did not have a very severe asymmetry and it was tolerable by the soft tissues, it was decided to apply camouflage treatment. Considering the patient’s severe crowding, a self-ligating bracket system (the Damon Q-passive self-ligating system—“0.022 × 0.028’’ slot; Ormco, Glendora, Calif, USA) was used for camouflage treatment. The basic foundation of the Damon System and the low friction between the Damon brackets and the wide super-elastic CuNiTi (Damon arc form-Ormco) wires create the optimum force to initiate tooth movement. This light and physiological force accelerates tooth movement, and dental arches are shaped by the expansion of the posterior teeth rather than the inclination of the incisors through “lip bumper effect” of m.orbicularis oris and m.mentalis. As a result, it has been claimed that the Damon system eliminates extraction in medium and severe crowding cases. Also, bodily buccal movement of the posterior teeth provides apposition at buccal alveolar bone.3-6 At the end of the treatment, the patient was functionally and aesthetically optimized, had the anterior crossbite corrected, and had solved severe crowding without extraction.
Cite this article as: Uzunçıbuk H. Camouflage treatment of an adult patient with skeletal class III malocclusion and severe crowding using passive self-ligating braces. Essent Dent. 2022;1(3):102-108.