[Cephalometric comparison of soft-tissue morphology between extraction and non-extraction orthodontic treatment in...

To compare soft-tissue morphology changes by cephalometric measurements between extraction and non-extraction orthodontic treatment in borderline cases.

The samples consisted of 33 cases selected as borderline cases by 5 orthodontic specialists. They were divided into 21 extraction cases (including 13 four first premolar extraction cases and 8 four second premolar extraction cases) and 12 non-extraction cases by checking patients' treatment records. Conventional cephalometric analysis was made to compare soft tissue structures before and after orthodontic treatments and the same comparison was made between two different extraction patterns.

No statistical difference was found in pretreatment soft-tissue morphology between extraction and non-extraction groups divided from borderline cases. The PosBs/FH of the four first premolars extraction group was smaller than that of non-extraction group, and the Ns-Sn-Pos of the four first premolars extraction group was smaller than that of four second premolar extraction group. None of the post-treatment soft-tissue measures showed significant statistical differences between four first premolars extraction group and non-extraction group, but there were 6 items showed significant statistical differences between four second premolars extraction group and non-extraction group. Compared with extraction and non-extraction treatments, the most significant soft-tissue changes were: PosBs/FH, LL-SnPos, and Bs-EP .

Although pre-treatment soft-tissue morphology of second premolar extraction group was close to that of non-extraction group, the post-treatment soft-tissue morphology of first premolar extraction group became closer to that of non-extraction group. Compared with non-extraction treatment, the more significant changes caused by extraction treatment were located in the lower lip and chin, but not the upper lips.