Correlations between lower incisor crowding and lower incisor position and lateral craniofacial morphology

Crowding of the lower incisors is a problem encountered frequently in orthodontic practice. Successful therapy may depend on the orthodontist's ability to evaluate factors contributing to the overall pattern. Two of these factors, vertical skeletal morphology and lower incisor position in the lateral cephalogram, were evaluated. Dental casts and cephalograms of 100 children with primary mandibular incisor crowding (that is, primary discrepancy between mesiodistal tooth width and available space of the dental alveolar process and apical base) were examined in this study. Results indicated the following: (1) all vertical skeletal and lower incisor position measurements closely duplicated published norms, (2) no correlation was found between lower incisor crowding and either skeletal morphology or lower incisor position, (3) a factor analysis did demonstrate, however, that other selected variables were interrelated, and (4) the cause of lower incisor crowding must be attributed to factors not examined in this study.