Positional symmetry of porion and external auditory meatus in facial asymmetry / 대한악안면성형재건외과학회지

BACKGROUND: The porion (Po) is used to construct the Frankfort horizontal (FH) plane for cephalometrics, and the external auditory meatus (EAM) is to transfer and mount the dental model with facebow. The classical assumption is that EAM represents Po by the parallel positioning. However, we are sometimes questioning about the possible positional disparity between Po and EAM, when the occlusal cant or facial midline is different from our clinical understandings. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the positional parallelism of Po and EAM in facial asymmetries, and also to investigate their relationship with the maxillary occlusal cant. METHODS: The 67 subjects were classified into three groups. Group I had normal subjects with facial symmetry (1.05 +/- 0.52 mm of average chin deviation) with minimal occlusal cant (<1.5 mm). Asymmetry group II-A had no maxillary occlusal cant (average 0.60 +/- 0.36), while asymmetry group II-B had occlusal cant (average 3.72 +/- 1.47). The distances of bilateral Po, EAM, and mesiobuccal cusp tips of the maxillary first molars (Mx) from the horizontal orbital plane (Orb) and the coronal plane were measured on the three-dimensional computed tomographic images. Their right and left side distance discrepancies were calculated and statistically compared. RESULTS: EAM was located 10.3 mm below and 2.3 mm anterior to Po in group I. The vertical distances from Po to EAM of both sides were significantly different in group II-B (p = 0.001), while other groups were not. Interside discrepancy of the vertical distances from EAM to Mx in group II-B also showed the significant differences, as compared with those from Po to Mx and from Orb to Mx. CONCLUSIONS: The subjects with facial asymmetry and prominent maxillary occlusal cant tend to have the symmetric position of Po but asymmetric EAM. Some caution or other measures will be helpful for them to be used during the clinical procedures.

Three-dimensional symmetry and parallelism of the skeletal and soft-tissue poria in patients with facial asymmetry / 대한치과교정학회지

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine the symmetry and parallelism of the skeletal and soft-tissue poria by three-dimensional (3D) computed tomographic (CT) imaging. METHODS: The locations of the bilateral skeletal and soft-tissue poria in 29 patients with facial asymmetry (asymmetric group) and 29 patients without facial asymmetry (symmetric group) were measured in 3D reconstructed models of CT images by using a 3D coordinate system. The mean intergroup differences in the anteroposterior and vertical angular deviations of the poria and their anteroposterior and vertical parallelism were statistically analyzed. RESULTS: The symmetric and asymmetric groups showed significant anteroposterior angular differences in both the skeletal and the soft-tissue poria (p = 0.007 and 0.037, respectively; Mann-Whitney U-test). No significant differences in the anteroposterior and vertical parallelism of the poria were noted (p < or = 0.05; Wilcoxon signed-rank test). CONCLUSIONS: In general, the skeletal poria are parallel to the soft-tissue poria. However, patients with facial asymmetry tend to have asymmetric poria.

The veraciry of orientation on upright lateral cephalometric radiographs / 医学研究生学报

Objective:To investigation the veracity of orientation on modified upright lateral cephalometric radiographs. Methods:Fifty upright lateral cephalometric radiographs were analysed randomly.Twenty-three subjects,who had standard radiographs, were taken with modified technique. The chracterics both of radiographs were compared. Results:The orientations of porion?FH plane and the superimpositions of left and right gonion point on modified standard radiographs were more veracity. Conclusion:The veracity of orientation on upright lateral cephalometric radiographs can be improved.