Introduction:

Assessing the maturity of the midpalatal suture (MPS) is important in orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics, to decide the type of treatment for palatal expansion, in patients with maxillary compression. Angelieri et al. in 2013, proposed a method for evaluating the maturation of MPS with cone-beam computed tomography. No publications were found which analyze articles describing and applying the Angelieri's method. The purpose of this review is to analyze the Angelieri's method, describing its uses, advantages and disadvantages.

Review:

Angelieri's method classifies MPS maturation into 5 stages (A-E). Its use complements studies with conventional bi-dimensional radiographs, when they indicate the patient is in circumpubertal and post-peak pubertal stages. The identification of the stage of maturation of MPS allows to determine the treatment alternatives -orthopedic or with a surgical approach-according to whether MPS is without ossification or with partial/total ossification, respectively. Some advantages of the Angelieri's method are being a non-invasive method, and reproducible after adequate training. One of its disadvantages is the lack of a gold standard that proves the imaging morphology of MPS proposed by the authors is not only theoretical.

Conclusions:

Angelieri's method is useful to evaluate the maturation of MPS, after calibration. There is no agreement that Angelieri's method is a predictor of treatment success for palatal expansion. Further research is required on the contribution of this method to its clinical use.

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