Dentoalveolar compensation in different anterioposterior and vertical skeletal malocclusions

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the position and inclination of maxillary and mandibular incisors in adults with different anteroposterior and vertical skeletal malocclusions. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this retrospective study, lateral cephalometry of 272 adults (134 males and 138 females) who met the selection criteria were digitally analyzed. They were classified based on both linear and angular measurements, anterioposteriorly into skeletal Class I, Class II and Class III and vertically into hypodivergent, normodivergent and hyperdivergent individuals. Sixteen linear and angular measurements were used to assess both positions and inclinations of maxillary base, mandibular base, maxillary incisors, mandibular incisors, and inter-incisors relationship. Descriptive statistics were calculated and presented. The intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) was applied for the reliability of measurements. Pearson correlation was used to present the degree of correlation between all variables. A P value of < 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: There was a significant correlation between anteroposterior skeletal discrepancy and maxillary and mandibular dentoalveolar compensation (P<0.001). There was significant correlation between vertical skeletal discrepancy and maxillary and mandibular dentoalveolar compensation except for maxillary incisor position. Anterioposterior skeletal jaw position had greater significant effect on the dentoalveolar changes than the vertical skeletal jaw inclination did with variant degree. CONCLUSIONS: There may be an association between dentoalveolar changes and the skeletal anteroposterior and vertical positions, inclinations and intermaxillary relation. Key words:Dentoalveolar compensation, anteroposterior, vertical, skeletal malocclusions, Cephalometry.