Short-term dentoalveolar effects of aesthetic lip bumper appliance: A longitudinal cases-series and pilot study

•One of the most used orthodontic appliances is the lip bumper (LB), a semi-functional, removable orthodontic appliance.•The ALBAa, a modified version of a traditional LB appliance, designed to be more aesthetically acceptable to patients, is proposed and tested clinically.•The ALBAa allows predictable expansion of the mandibular arch in each dimension investigated. To investigate the short-term dentoalveolar effects on the mandibular arch of a modified, aesthetic lip bumper (ALBAa). The study sample comprised 23 patients (13 boys and 10 girls, with a mean age of 9.5 ± 1.8 years) in mixed dentition, with no previous orthodontic treatment. For each patient, a scan of the mandibular arch was digitally acquired pre-treatment (T0), and at 3 months (T1), 6 months (T2) and 9 months (T3) post-treatment. Linear intra-arch measurements, Little’s irregularity index of the amount of mandibular anterior crowding, and the crown tipping values on all mandibular teeth were measured and compared statistically between time points. ANOVA and subsequent post-hoc tests were performed, considering a p-value of