Comparative study of complications during Herbst treatment with Cantilever Bite Jumper and removable mandibular acrylic splint

Objective: To assess and compare the type of complications during Herbst treatment with Cantilever Bite Jumper (CBJ) and removable mandibular splint. Methods: Twenty one consecutive Herbst patients treated with the CBJ were compared with twenty one consecutively treated Herbst patients with stainless steel crowns on the maxillary first molars and a removable mandibular acrylic splint. The initial mean age for the CBJ group was 12 years and 3 months and for the Splint group was 11 years and 3 months. Both groups used the Herbst appliance for 12 months. Based on the patients’ clinical records an occurrence survey of complications during Herbst treatment was performed. Results: There were 24 complications for the CBJ and 53 for the Splint group, which were statistically different (Mann-Whitney test, p<0.05). The prevalence of patients exhibiting complications during treatment was 66.67% in the CBJ and 85.71% in the Splint group. The frequencies of complications were also statistically different between the groups. Conclusions: The CBJ exhibited a significantly smaller number of complications during Herbst appliance treatment than the removable mandibular splint. Herbst appliance with first molar crowns and a cantilever on the mandibular molars is preferable to the removable mandibular acrylic splint because of savings in clinical and laboratory time. Abstract