RESUMO
Soft tissues analysis in Orthodontics, not only plays important role to assess facial esthetics, rather it is also one of the crucial steps in determining the stability and success of treatment outcome. This cross sectional study was carried out in sample of local Karachi population with esthetically pleasing faces having Class I skeletal base with fully erupted permanent teeth and no history of previous orthodontic treatment. Cephalometric soft tissue analysis was done using the Nasolabial angle, E-Line and S-Line for 91 subjects [68 females and 23 males] who met the inclusion criterion. Mean value ofnasolabial angle was found to be 101.6° +/- 14.5°. Upper and lower lip prominence in accordance to E-Line was 2.91+/-2.45mm and1.25 +/- 2.67mm respectively. Upper and lower lips were found to be slightly protrusive with reference to the norms of E-Plane proposed by Rickets. The anteroposterior position of upper and lower lip in relation to S-Line was 0.0+/- 2.5 mm and- 0.71 +/- 2.5 mm respectively. Both the lips were found to lie close to the norms of S-Line proposed by Steiner's. Thickness of soft tissues varies from one patient to other, which is one of the major factors in determining the profile of patients. This study was conducted in a sample of Karachi population and these results do not necessarily exhibit the trend of entire Pakistani population as soft tissue thickness varies in different ethnic groups