Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, pre-treatment lateral cephalograms of 90 candidates of orthodontic treatments (44 females. 46 males) were selected with an age range of 14-26 years and equal distribution regarding Class I, Class II, and Class III malocclusions. The shape of sella turcica was determined on the radiographs and the length, diameter and depth of sella turcica were calculated. For statistical analysis, chi-square and t-tests were used.
Results: Totally 23.3% of patients (23.91% of males and 22.72% of females) showed bridging of sella turcica. Sella turcica length was significantly higher in Class III malocclusions than Class II and Class I (p< 0.0001). However depth and diameter of sella turcica were calculated similarly for three Class I, Class II, and Class III patients. Skeletal Class III patients presented a significantly higher rate of sella turcica bridging (43.3%) in comparison with skeletal Class I and Class II patients, whose rate was 13.3% for each of these groups. No differences were detected between females and males for the length, depth, and diameter of the sella turcica.
Conclusions: There was a significant relationship between the classification of malocclusion and shape of sella turcica; as in the patients with class III malocclusion, bridging of sella turcica is reported with more incidences. Also, the length of sella turcica was significantly longer in these patients, than the peoples with class I and class II malocclusions.