ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Our aim is to test the Nahoum Index as a support in the cephalometric study of vertical dimension and therapeutic orientation in adult patients suffering from Class II malocclusion, deep bite, or short face syndrome. METHODS: Twenty-three patients with molar Class II and an overbite >4 mm were stratified into two groups: orthodontic (G2) and surgical orthodontic (G1). The ANB angle and Nahoum Index were calculated for cephalometric tracing pre- and post-treatment. The difference between the ANB and Nahoum Index values were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software. RESULTS: In G1, the Nahoum Index decreased from 0.954 to 0.797, and the ANB angle decreased from 5.2° to 3.2°. In G2, the Nahoum Index decreased from 0.825 to 0.817, and the ANB angle decreased from 4.4° to 4°. CONCLUSION: In G1, the difference between before and after treatment was significant for the Nahoum Index only. The difference between before and after values was not significant in the G2 group. It is possible to indicate the Nahoum Index of 0.934 as the limit value in case of which a patient may be treated with orthodontics only. This limit is the opposite of the limit proposed by Nahoum for vertical excess cases and respect the same interval. Therefore, we can consider the range 0.81-0.934 to indicate borderline patients, and >0.934 to indicate surgical patients. If the ratio is close to the normal value as 0.81, the treatment will be orthodontic; if it is further increased, the treatment will be surgical.
ABSTRACT
Unilateral condylar hyperplasia (UCH) is a condyle disorder that arises due to osteoblastic hyperactivity, resulting in facial asymmetry, malocclusion and dysfunction. Authors, in this retrospective study, compared "gold standard" manual-segmentation with a "semi-manual one" using 2 kinds of open-source software (Horos and ITK-SNAP; Penn Image Computing and Science Laboratory) to calculate volume of 80 UCH condyles (40 patients). Moreover, volumetric differences between affected condyle and unaffected 1, between males and females, ages, and classification type were also analyzed. Fifteen patients (37.5%) were male and 25 (62.5%) were female. The gender ratio was 5:2, not far from the ratio 2:1 shown in literature. The mean age was 24 (SD 8.6) years; 22.9 (SD 6.6) for males and 24.6 (SD 9.6) for females according with the mean age derived from the Raijmakers et al meta-analysis and the Nitzan et al study. Right side (60%, 24 patients) was more often affected than the left side (40%, 16 patients). The 67.5% (27 patients) were classified as trasversal type, 25% (10 patients) as vertical types and 7.5% (3 patients) as combined. Despite Horos and ITK-SNAP values presenting some differences, the data follows the same tendency. The relationship is stronger for healthy condyles than affected condyles.
