## 3 Results  
Over the three-year study period, 39 patients were treated with bone-borne distractors of the palate, of which 21 were females and 18 were males; patients ranged in age from 13 years and 1 month to 39 years and 4 months for the females and from 11 years and  
Figure 3: An example of diastema after two weeks of expansion.  
Figure 2: The direction in which the distractor screws should be turned.  
10 months to 42 years and 10 months for the males. A group of 8 girls and 9 boys under 18 years of age were included in the analysis, while 13 women and 9 men were included in the adult group. A description of the qualitative characteristics of the study group is shown in Table 1.  
Table 2 shows detailed results including age (in years and months), sex, and presence of diastema for all participants. F: female; M: male; Y: presence of diastema; \(n\): absence of diastema.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Parameter**} & \(n\) & \% \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Sex} & Female & 21 & 53.85\% \\ \cline{2-4}  & Male & 18 & 46.15\% \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Age} & Below 18 years & 17 & 43.59\% \\ \cline{2-4}  & 18 years and older & 22 & 56.41\% \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Diastema after 1 week} & No & 16 & 41.03\% \\ \cline{2-4}  & Yes & 23 & 58.97\% \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Diastema after 2 weeks} & No & 8 & 20.51\% \\ \cline{2-4}  & Yes & 31 & 79.49\% \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 1: Qualitative characteristics of the study group.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline \multicolumn{1}{c}{**No.**} & **Sex** & **Age** & \
\begin{tabular}{c} **Diastema Present** \\ **after 1 Week** \\ \end{tabular} &
\begin{tabular}{c} **Diastema Present** \\ **after 2 Weeks** \\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline  
\\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 2: Sex, age, and presence of diastema in all study participants.  
Diastema was observed at the first follow-up visit (one week after distraction was started) in all the girls and in eight out of nine boys; no further changes had occurred by the second follow-up visit. There was no statistically significant difference between the results.  
Among the adults, diastema was present in seven out of the thirteen women and in none of the men after the first week; that difference was statistically significant (\(p\) = 0.017 in the chi-square test). At the second follow-up visit, diastema was lacking in one woman and was present in three of the nine males; this difference was also statistically significant (\(p\) = 0.007). The results are shown in Table 3.  
Upon completion of distraction, diastema had appeared in all the girls, in twelve of the thirteen women, in eight of the nine boys, and in three of the nine men. Detailed results for all groups by sex are presented in Table 4.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline
**No.** & **Sex** & **Age** & **Diastema Present** & **Diastema Present** \\  & & & **after 1 Week** & **after 2 Weeks** \\ \hline  
\hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 2: _Cont._  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Diastema**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Sex**} \\ \cline{2-5}  & & **Female (_n = 13_)** & **Male (_n = 9_)** & \(p\) \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Diastema after 1 week} & No & 6 (46.15\%) & 9 (100.00\%) & \(p\) = 0.017 \({}^{*}\) \\ \cline{2-5}  & Yes & 7 (53.85\%) & 0 (0.00\%) & \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Diastema after 2 weeks} & No & 1 (7.69\%) & 6 (66.67\%) & \(p\) = 0.007 \({}^{*}\) \\ \cline{2-5}  & Yes & 12 (92.31\%) & 3 (33.33\%) & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} \(p\): chi-squared test or [PERSON]’s exact test. \({}^{*}\) Statistically significant differences (\(p\) < 0.05).  
\end{table}
Table 3: Distraction results in the adult patients.