Post-Correction Relationships of Various Facial Axes to Skeletal Components

Objective: This was a retrospective study to evaluate the relationship between various growth axes between each other, chin position, anterior and posterior face heights following early orthodontic correction of Angle Class II division 1 malocclusions with cervical pull headgear.

Methods:Cephalometric headfilms of 74 early treated cervical pull headgear corrected Angle Class II division 1 patients were randomly selected with a mean age of 14.2 years with a SD of 1.8 years. Cephalometric landmarks Orbitale [Or], Porion[P], Nasion[N], Sella Turcica [S], Basion [Ba], Anterior nasal spine [Ans], Posterior nasal spine [Pns], Pogonion [Pg], Menton [Me], Gnathion [Gn], Articulare [Ar] and planes Facial, BaN, FH, RIL,.Y.XY, NSGn, ConAxis were used for analysis. Vertical landmarks were projected to a line perpendicular to FH for vertical dimensions. Angles, linear and proportional dimensions were determined utilizing the Coben's proportional analysis. Correlation coefficients and p values were employed with significance determined only when the confidence level was p<0.05.

Results: Condylar axis was significant only when related to cranial landmarks and both anterior and posterior height as proportions of cranial base length, but not as proportions of anterior face height and none to sagittal or facial depth. None of the axes significantly correlated with skeletal anterior face height components as proportions of anterior face height [NM]. Only the Y axis was not significant when related to upper anterior face height as a proportion of cranial length [BaN].

Conclusions: The condylar axis does not appear to have a significant relationship to facial depth contrary to the Y,XY and NSGN axes.