Facial Index Variation in Patients with Different Malocclusions

Objectives: The facial index plays a key role in orthodontics, as it relates to different types of faces. Based on this, an orthodontic treatment plan is developed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the facial index in patients with different malocclusions.
Methods: A total of 60 participants (25 male, 35 female), aged 16 to 35, were included. They were divided according to the type of malocclusion into three groups, each consisting of 20 participants. A photogrammetric analysis was performed using Olympus cellSens Standard software (2011 Olympus Corporation). The facial index was determined for all participants.
Results: For p<0.05, a significant difference was found between the three classes of malocclusion with F=10.037; df=2; p=0.0001. According to the Tukey HSD test (p<0.05), this was due to a significantly higher value for this parameter in Class III malocclusion (95.37±6.20%) compared to Class I malocclusion (89.37±3.06%) with p=0.0001 and Class II malocclusion (90.16±3.96%) with p=0.001. For p>0.05, no significant difference was found between Class I and Class II malocclusion with respect to this parameter, with p=0.587. Regarding gender, a non-significant higher facial index was observed in men compared to women in Class II (t(12)=1.128; p=0.274) and Class III (t(18)=1.966; p=0.065), while a non- significantly lower index was observed in men in Class I (t(18)=1.806; p=0.088).
Conclusion: Based on the type of malocclusion and the gender of the participants, there are different facial types in patients with sagittal discrepancies.
Keywords: Analysis, Index, Macroesthetics, Malocclusion