The Association between Occlusal Features and Craniofacial Structure

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between craniofacial skeletal structure and occlusion. Methods: Data were obtained from lateral cephalometric radiographs and study casts of 60 patients with various malocclusions, with the mean age of 13.3±1.5 years. Thirteen angular and 14 linear skeletal measures as well as 5 occlusal measures including; overjet, overbite, molar relation, maxillary and mandibular crowding were applied. Relations were examined by use of univariate and multivariate statistical methods. Results: Simple correlation analysis between individual skeletal measures and individual occlusal characteristics showed that the strongest linear correlation exists between overbite and Pal-GoMe angle (r=-0.451, P-value<0.01). Stepwise multiple regression was carried out for quantitative occlusal variables. The prediction formula for overjet had the highest multiple R and R2 values (multiple R=0.654, R2= 0.428), which shows that multiple skeletal features explained 43% of the variance in overjet. Conclusions: Individually and in combination, skeletal measures were poorly associated with individual features of occlusion, so that variations in skeletal structure account for at most 43% of the variations in occlusion.