Objectives: The objective was to compare dentofacial characteristics of Class I malocclusion in Saudi and Japanese adult females.
Materials and methods: Lateral cephalograms of 50 Saudi adult female and 50 Japanese adult female (18-35-year-old) were obtained. All patients were skeletal Class I, angle Class I malocclusion, arch length discrepancy (-10-10 mm), overjet (1-5 mm), overbite (1-5 mm), absence of congenital anomalies, or significant facial asymmetries or congenitally missing tooth other than the 3(rd) molar and absence of temporomandibular joint problems. Patient cephalograms were traced and digitized. 16 angular measurements and 13 linear measurements of facial form were used.
Results: A comparison of the vertical dimension showed that the Saudi females had a significantly larger gonial angle, a significantly larger facial angle and longer lower face height compared to the Japanese females. Dentally, Saudi females had more protruded incisors with increased distances of the posterior teeth to the palatal plane. For the soft tissue dimension, the Saudi subjects had a significantly more prominent nose, retruded lip and a more protruded chin compared with Japanese.
Conclusions: There were significant differences in dentofacial morphology between Saudi and Japanese adult females. Both Asian countries have distinct cephalometric features, which should be considered as a reference in treating patients of varying ethnic backgrounds to optimize the final results.
Keywords: Cephalometric; Class I malocclusion; comparison; ethnic differences.