[Gnathometric changes in examinees with and without early findings of crowding--a longitudinal study]

The longitudinal sample of children of both sexes (31 without crowding and 39 with crowding) has been investigated to examine the influence of clinically estimated findings in the deciduous dentition in the volume of jaw growth as well as in the occurrence of some malocclusions in the mixed dentition. The children were examined for the first time at the age of 4.5 and again 3 years later. The results have pointed out the following: there was no essential difference in the volume of transversal and sagittal jaw growth in reference to early findings; in both groups the significant enlargement of transversal and sagittal dimensions was recorded; mean of the width of the upper dental arch are significantly higher in the group without crowding in primary dentition; mean of the length of the upper dental arch are somewhat higher in the examinees with early findings of crowding at the first examination, namely in the examinees without early finding of crowding at the second examination; mean of the overjet are somewhat higher in the group with early finding of crowding; distribution of the examinees in the mixed dentition according the orthodontic diagnosis does not show essential differences in regard to early finding; the largest number of the examinees in the mixed dentition shows the symptoms of the primary crowding regardless of the earlier findings; only 29.1% examinees without early finding of crowding, maintain the same characteristic in the mixed dentition; in the 26.4% examinees with early finding of crowding, there comes to the spontaneous loss of the primary symptoms during the change of teeth namely to the transfer to the group with no crowding.