A Systematic Approach to Diagnosis & Treatment of Interceptive Orthodontics: Part 1 | Introduction to Assessment & Rationale for Phase I Treatment

It is important to know when and what orthodontic treatment (tx) should be performed on children. “Early treatment” is also commonly referred to as “Interceptive Orthodontics” or “Phase I (Ph I)” treatment. When evaluating a child the clinician must ask themselves the following question:

If nothing is done now before the patient has full eruption what conditions will the patient have later? If the answer to this question is unfavorable, then interceptive orthodontics is likely appropriate to increase the chances of ultimately achieving an optimal Phase II (Ph II) correction.

Anybody who is treating a lot of their cases in the same way (with the same modalities) over and over is making mistakes! There are some practices (specialists included) where, for example, everybody gets expansion….or everybody gets a utility arch…or everybody gets “fill in the blank.” If this is the way you practice, you will only get optimal results if your patient coincidentally has the problem your technique is designed to correct. These series of articles are designed to help you elevate your early treatment. Well-managed Phase I orthodontic treatment can greatly improve the chances of getting optimal final results. When a Ph II patient has enough combination of lower crowding, skeletal open bite, Cl II, or protrusion, then bicuspid extractions is a standard treatment alternative any specialist would consider. The patient depicted in Figs. 1-4 Ph1 was ultimately and successfully treated with non-extraction because the following was achieved before there was full eruption: