Soft tissue growth changes from 8 to 16 years of age: A cross-sectional study

The present cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate and compare the soft tissue growth changes between males and females of two groups from 8 to 16 years.

One hundred sixty skeletal class I lateral head cephalograms were screened aged between 8 to 16 years-Subjects were divided into two groups. Group I (8 to 12 years) and Group II (12 to 16 years) and further these groups were subdivided into male and female subgroups. Total eight linear and four angular parameters were studied.

All the parameters increased in their dimension while angle of total facial convexity including nose and Nasolabialangle decreases. Among the linear variables, Noseheight, Lip thickness at laberale inferious, Lip thickness at B point, Soft tissue chin thickness and Measurements of lips to E-plane were found significant for both subgroups. While rest of the linear variables like Upper lip height, Lower lip height, Nose depth and Sagittal depth also increased but this increase wasfound non-significant. Among the angular parameters angle of total facial convexity including nose and Nasolabialangle decreases and angle of facial convexity excluding nose, and Nose inclination increases with the age, and these changes were found non-significant.

In this study, we observed that males showed a greater value of all parameters in comparison to females, and with the advancement of age, all the parameters increased, except for angle of total facial convexity and nasolabial angle.