"Wits Appraisal" for African Americans: Establishment of A Norm

In radiographic cephalometric analysis, the anterior relationship of the maxilla to the mandible is a most important diagnostic criterion. Historically, orthodontists have related both the maxilla and the mandible to reference points in the cranial base of the skull. Other analyses have evaluated the relationship between the functional occlusal plane and the maxilla and the mandible to determine various degrees of facial prognathism. Objectives: The objectives of this study was to evaluate the "Wits Appraisal" in African Americans and the relationship between occlusal plane, age and gender and to compare results of this study to the original norms for the "Wit's Appraisal". Methods: Pre-treatment orthodontic records of 60 African American patients (30 Male and 30 Female) from the Howard University Orthodontic Clinic were selected based on the following criteria: Permanent Class I occlusion and no obvious skeletal discrepancies. Wit's Analysis, the ANB angle, and Occlusal plane to Frankfort Horizontal angle were measured from lateral cephalograms. Descriptive statistics of means, median, standard error, standard deviation and ranges were calculated. Pearson's product moment coefficients were performed. Results: There were significant correlations between Wits and ANB measurements and Age and Wits. A significant negative correlation was found with Age and Occlusal Plane to Frankfort Horizontal angle. No statistically significant differences between Wits values and this investigation were found. Conclusions: There was a correlation between Wits and the ANB angle, no correlation between Wits and Occlusal Plane to FH angle, and original Wits norms are applicable to African -Americans.