Racial variations in cephalometric analysis between Whites and Kuwaitis

The objective of this study is to determine whether (1) Kuwaiti adolescents differ from Caucasian adolescents with respect to their cephalometric values; (2) sex plays a role in the differences between the two groups; and (3) a need exists to develop cephalometric standards for the Kuwaiti population. Standardized cephalometric films were obtained from 36 Kuwaiti females and 32 Kuwaiti males between the ages 11 and 14 years. Only subjects with Class I molar occlusion and a positive overjet of no more than 4 mm were selected. Each subject was age matched with White cephalometric values. Intraexaminer error, paired, and two-sample t-tests were made. The results show that there were significant differences between the Kuwaiti population and the Caucasian population for the majority of the variables tested (P < .01). Sex produced no significant effect on any of the variables studied. The Kuwaiti population has fuller lips, more facial convexity, greater dental protrusion, a more retruded and smaller mandible, and shorter posterior face height than the Caucasian population.