Morphometric patterns of maxillary apical base variability in people with various dental arches at physiological occlusion

Abstract

Morphometric data on the structure of the craniofacial complex are reliable and diagnostically significant values that are of applied nature in terms of practical dentistry. Within this study, analysis of conebeam computed tomograms, biometric indicators of plaster models obtained from the jaws of 83 people (aged 21-35) with physiological occlusion and various types of dental, gnathic dental arches, the degree of proportion between the maxillary apical base and the inter-canine distance were identified. Depending on the dental arch type, the patients were divided into three groups. The morphometric study in the CB CT frontal plane was the distance between the canines tearing tubercles and the inter-canine distance in the apical area. The study outcomes revealed discrepancies between the calculated and actual indicators of the apical base width for all types of dental arches in people with physiological occlusion. In case of mesotrusive dental arches (incisional angle - 127-143 degrees), the width of the apical base corresponded to the width of the dental arches between the canines, while the differences in indicators were not statistically significant. In people with retrusive dental arches (incisional angle exceeding 144 degrees), the width of the dental arch was found to be significantly above the width of the apical bases. As far as protrusive dental arches are concerned (incisional angle below 126 degrees), these patients featured predominance of the apical bases width over the inter-canine distance. The obtained data add to that already available in research literature regarding the relationships and dimensional features pertaining to the craniofacial complex structures, as well as have applied value in orthodontic clinical practice.