Diagnosis and treatment planning of patients with asymmetries

The diagnosis, treatment planning, and design of mechanics for the asymmetric patient requires the differentiation between problems of dental and skeletal origin. Although much information can be gleaned from a cephalometric analysis, the clinical examination and study models offer important clues in establishing the diagnosis of skeletal discrepancy. Abnormal and asymmetric axial inclinations can either produce a dental asymmetry or, if compensatory in nature, may mask an underlying skeletal problem. The role of axial inclination in diagnosis is applied to the following situations: subdivision cases, unilateral crossbites, midline discrepancies, arch form deviations, and frontal cants to the occlusal plane. The management of axial inclination asymmetries depends on the treatment plan. Nonextraction patients may require maintenance of asymmetric compensatory axial inclinations. Surgical and extraction patients can be treated to a more ideal symmetry.