Prevalence of mandibular asymmetry in skeletal class I adult patients

ABSTRACT

AIM: The objective of this study was evaluating the prevalence of mandibular asymmetry in skeletal Class I adult patients. Materials and methods: The sample was composed by coneEbeam computed tomography images of 250 skeletal Class I patients with age from 18 to 70 years old. The side deviation of mandibular asymmetry was evaluated (right and left), as well as the intensity of this asymmetry. People with gnathic deviation until 2mm were considered as patients with slight asymmetry; deviation between 2 and 5mm was considered moderate asymmetry and those higher than 5mm as severe asymmetries. The error calculation method was performed and there was not significant error in the measurements. To verify the association between the prevalence of mandibular asymmetry and the gender of individuals, the Χ2 was carried out and the significant level adopted was 5% (p<0.05). RESULTS: The results showed that mandibular deviation occurred more frequently to the left side in both genders (male 56.5% e female 58.2%), without statistically significant difference between them (p=0.792). Besides, the prevalence of slight, moderate and severe asymmetries were, respectively 61%, 27% and 12% for males and 54%, 28% and 18% for female; and there was not statistically significant difference (p=0.366) between the gender of the sample evaluated. Conclusion: In this study, both deviation and intensity of mandibular asymmetry did not present preference regarding to the gender.