Quantitative evaluation with CBCT of palatal bone thickness in growing patients

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the most suitable region of the palate for the insertion of miniscrews. We analysed 4 different paracoronal sections of Digital Volumetric Tomographies of 52 patients with ages ranging between 10 and 15 years and measured the thickness of the palatine bone in 20 different sites. For each section we measured the height of the palatal bone at 0, 3 and 6 mm increments laterally from the midline. The results indicate that the thickest part of the palate is found 6 mm to the left and right of the suture in the anterior part of the palate, 4 mm from the incisal foramen. In the other paracoronal sections, the thicknesses tend to decrease progressively, but the highest values are always found corresponding to suture. Therefore, we can conclude that the thickest part of the palate is the anterior region. Although the bone is thinner in the posterior region of the palate, it is also suitable for the insertion of miniscrew.