The extensive literature concerning the early treatment of anterior open bite (AOB) is still controversial and covers a wide variety of therapeutic approaches. Selection criteria: Selection process was performed to include controlled trials enrolling growing subjects who underwent orthodontic treatment to correct AOB and/or hyperdivergent facial pattern. Data collection and analysis: Data were grouped and analysed descriptively. Qualitative appraisal was performed according to the Cochrane risk

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... of bias tool, for randomized clinical trials (RCTs), and MINORS tool for non-RCTs. Results: The 22 studies included in this review mostly considered mixed dentition subjects, and there was a considerable variation regarding therapeutic approaches. Because of poor-quality and/ or insufficient evidence, consistent results were not found. However, some useful clinical inferences and suggestions for future studies were provided for each therapeutic modality considered here. Conclusions: Additional efforts must still be directed to perform, whenever possible, RCTs; or to conduct prospective controlled trials with adequate sample sizes, consecutively assembled subjects, with the comparison of contemporary and equivalent groups. Synthesis of results The results of this manuscript are descriptively presented, since it was not considered adequate to synthesize the data through metaanalyses, as a result of excessive heterogeneity. Results Study selection After electronic searching, inclusion of hand-searched studies, and screening phase, 65 studies were pre-selected for full reading. From