A three-dimensional computed tomography comparison of the maxillary palatal vault between patients with rapid palatal expansion and orthodontically treated controls

Introduction. The purpose of this study was to compare the cone-beam scan volume measurements between patients with rapid palatal expansion and controls on archived records. Methods. The study included 16 patients who required RPE and 15 controls; all patients had orthodontic treatment and a beginning and progress cone-beam CT scan. The volume area of the palatal region was measured and compared to palatal vault height and width measurements and independent T-tests were used to analyze the continuous variables. Results. The percent of change in crude palatal volume was 11.2% in controls and 24.6% in the RPE group. The mean width increase for the orthodontic only cases was 0.86mm, whereas the mean width increase for the RPE cases was 2.86mm. There was no significant difference in the change of palatal vault height. Conclusion. There is a significant difference in palatal area volume between the RPE and control patients.