Effect of Oral Submucous Fibrosis on Jaw Dimensions

The disuse of the jaws owing to the restricted movement of the mandible in advanced cases of oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) may have an effect on the morphologic features of the jaw bones. The purpose of the present study was to determine the jaw bone measurements in patients with OSMF and to compare the measurements in normal subjects and Caucasian norms.

The lateral cephalograms of 59 subjects (43 males and 16 females) with OSMF and 44 normal subjects (23 males and 21 females) in the age group of 18-45 years were collected. The jaw measurements were performed using Burstone analysis, and the relevant linear measurements of jaw sizes included were N-A, N-B, N-ANS, ANS-PNS, ANS-Gn, Ar-Go, and Pg-Go. The sex-wise comparison was performed using unpaired t-test, and measurements were compared with other studies using Z test.

In the present study, sex-wise comparison was found to be significant with greater jaw measurements in males than in females in patients with OSMF. Overall, the measurements were less or equal in patients with OSMF than in normal subjects except for N-ANS and Pg-Go. When study measurements were compared with Burstone measurements, differences were significant with greater and less measurements.

Overall, the jaw measurements were less or equal in patients with OSMF than in normal subjects except for mandibular body length and middle third facial height that may need further evaluation.