Objectives: Cephalometric evaluation is usually performed on patients requiring orthodontic treatment, and serves as a tool for diagnostic purposes. Cephalometric data are race specific and often determines the treatment planning for an individual patient of a specific race group. The study was conducted to determine cephalometric values for South African Black patients that will be user friendly for undergraduate training and also be useful for general practice to serve as a tool for diagnostic purposes. Materials and methods: Lateral cephalometric radiographs of 30 female and 30 male South African Blacks, 18-30 years old were evaluated. The records were selected from the Department of Orthodontics archives based on excellence of occlusion and balance of facial proportions. Skeletal, dental and soft tissue landmarks were traced manually. Angular and linear values were measured. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse data. The mean values for males and females were compared using T-test, and also compared to other existing Black norms. The p-values of p≤0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: The cephalometric values of our study differed significantly to those of Barter et al, (1995). Statistical significant differences were obtained for S-N length, Upper face height, Lower face height, SN-PP and Gonial angle for both males and females. Conclusions: Our study showed that cephalometric values for other Black groups cannot be used with confidence to our sample and our study have proposed mean values for this group. |