Determination of Holdaway soft tissue norms in Anatolian Turkish adults

The purpose of this study was to determine Holdaway soft tissue standards for Anatolian Turkish adults. The material included the lateral cephalometric radiographs of 175 patients, 90 men and 85 women, selected from the dental students at Selcuk University, Konya, Turkey. After analyzing these radiographs, 105 subjects (55 men, mean age 22.61, and 50 women, mean age, 22.14) with normal anteroposterior and vertical skeletal relationships were selected for the study. Ten linear and 2 angular measurements were analyzed on each radiograph. The landmarks were located according to the definitions of Holdaway. For each variable, the arithmetic mean and standard deviation were calculated. For statistical evaluation, an independent-samples t test was performed. Except for the measurements of soft tissue chin thickness and basic upper lip thickness, all soft tissue measurements were similar to Holdaway norms. For nose prominence, inferior sulcus to H line, upper lip strain, soft tissue chin thickness, and basic upper lip thickness measurements, statistically significant sex differences were determined. We believe it is appropriate to use these Anatolian Turkish soft tissue norms in daily orthodontic practice.