Comparison of distal and neutral craniofacial pattern in untreated subjects in terms of skeletal harmony and growth.

Using conventional comparisons of means and multivariate analyses, the aim of this study was to establish skeletal proportions and their growth-dependent development in untreated subjects with class II/1 malocclusion and compare them with a longitudinally-examined, untreated group with neutral occlusion. 138 untreated children from Nittedal/Norway with an Angle-class II/1 malocclusion were examined longitudinally using radiocephalometry at 2 points in time: average ages of 9.1 and 12.1 years. These class II/1 children were compared to a group of 80 untreated children with class I occlusion (also from Nittedal, similar age group). In addition to the Norwegian participants, untreated children with class II/1 malocclusion from Sweden and Germany were longitudinally analyzed. Besides a comparison of the mean values of the measured basal variables, a multivariate analysis was conducted with the help of graphically converted regression equations (harmony box). In comparison to the class-I children with neutral craniofacial pattern, the mandibles in children with class II/1 malocclusion showed a significant posterior shift at both points in time. According to evaluation with the harmony box, the craniofacial dimensions were harmonious in class I occlusion. In all class II/1 groups, the maxilla was located slightly disharmoniously to the anterior at both time points. The average basal alterations were relatively minor. If not only individual mean values are compared with one another, but also multivariate relations of the viscerocranium are considered, a maxillary anterior shift is more frequently diagnosed in subjects with a class II/1 malocclusion than is possible with a comparison of mean values.