Skull thickness in skeletal deep bite: A predictive model for orthodontic treatment planning

Skull thickness plays a significant role in orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning, particularly in skeletal malocclusions such as deep bite. In this retrospective cohort study, lateral cephalograms of 68 skeletal deep bite patients and 34 controls were assessed to measure frontal, parietal and occipital bone thickness and regression analysis was applied to establish predictive markers. Deep bite patients exhibited significantly greater parietal bone thickness than controls (p <0.05), with females showing higher parietal values and regression modeling identified parietal thickness as the most reliable predictor of skeletal deep bite (R² = 0.61, p <0.01). These findings highlight that cranial bone thickness, particularly in the parietal region, may serve as a clinically useful predictor of skeletal deep bite and assist in orthodontic and surgical treatment planning.