Herbst treatment – making difficult Class II treatments easy

Prof. Sabine Ruf, Ph.D.  

Pre-Congress Course - Thursday, September 30, 2010

The Herbst appliance is a scientifically based treatment approach for the treatment of Class II:1 and Class II:2 malocclusions. In contrast to removable functional appliances and multibracket appliances in combination with headgear and / or Class II elastics it off ers some advantages:

1. it is extremely efficient in post-adolescent and adult patients,
2. it stimulates TMJ modelling,
3. it is independent from patient cooperation,
4. it allows for short treatment times (7-9 months),
5. it reduces the amount of required maxillary extractions,
6. is an alternative to orthognathic surgery.

The present lecture will be focused on the scientific principles, the advantages and disadvantages of Herbst treatment in adolescent and adult patients with special consideration of TMJ function, treatment effects and stability.