Skeletal and dento-alveolar norms: Conventional and based on true vertical in a Lebanese population

The aims of this study were to determine the cephalometric norms in a Lebanese population of young adults, to find the differences in cranio-facial morphology between males and females and to establish the equivalency between conventional measurements and those based on the true horizontal.

Ninety subjects divided into 43 women and 47 men, aged from 18 to 30years, were selected based on specific criteria. The lateral cephalograms were taken in the natural head position. Downs, Steiner, Tweed, Ricketts, Epker and Fish, Coben, McNamara and Jacobson analyses were applied by orienting radiographs according to the Frankfurt anatomic plane, and Scheideman, Cooke, Arnett, and Viazis analyses were performed by orienting the radiographs according to the true vertical.

The specific skeletal and dento-alveolar measurements from this sample are reported in nine grids. Differences between males and females were found especially at the B and Pog points, which were more posterior in men, who also presented a greater lower facial height in relation to total facial height. Women had more protrusive upper incisors when measured in the maxillary plane.