Objective To analyze the effect of fixed appliance and occlusal pad appliance for anterior crossbite correction in primary anterior teeth. Methods A total of 52 patients who underwent anterior crossbite correction in primary anterior teeth treated in our hospital from March 2022 to March 2023 were selected as the research objects. They were divided into control group and observation group by random number table method, with 26 patients in each group. The control group was treated with occlusal pad appliance, and the observation group was treated with fixed appliance. The clinical efficacy, treatment course, occlusion index, changes of tooth angle and soft tissue, and correction satisfaction were compared between the two groups. Results The total effective rate of treatment in the observation group was 96.15%, which was higher than 80.77% in the control group (P <0.05). The treatment course of the observation group was shorter than that of the control group (P <0.05). After treatment, the overjet OJ value and overbite OB value of the observation group were smaller than those of the control group (P <0.05). After treatment, the SNA angle of the observation group was larger than that of the control group, and the ANB angle, L1-SN angle and L1-MP were smaller than those of the control group (P <0.05). The correction satisfaction of the observation group was 100.00%, which was higher than 84.62% of the control group (P <0.05). Conclusion Fixed appliance treatment can improve the correction effect of primary anterior crossbite, improve the occlusion relationship, promote the improvement of tooth angle, soft tissue coverage, and improve the satisfaction of correction, which is worthy of clinical application.