Craniofacial morphology in overweight and obese orthodontic adolescent patients

Introduction and objective. There is an evidence suggesting that obesity may influence the timing of puberty and growth patterns. There are few research on the reactions of the craniofacial complex to an overall increase in the body mass. Thus the objective of the study was to investigate if overweight or obesity may influence craniofacial morphology in adolescent orthodontic patients. Material and methods. In total, 77 patients aged 11–16 years were selected for the retrospective analysis. The study group comprised 37 overweight or obese individuals (mean age: 13,45±2,15). The control group included 40 normal-weight subjects (mean age: 13.79±1.81). Body mass index (BMI) percentile of each patient was assessed with the use of BMI score and age- and sex specific growth charts in accordance with International Obesity Task Force (IOTF). Craniofacial measurements included in the study were performed on the tracings of lateral cephalometric radiographs. The data was analyzed by STATISTICA 10 for Windows Software. Results. Both females and males of the study group exhibited significantly greater mandible length (Cd-Gn), corpus length (Go-Pg), midfacial length (Cd-A) and lower anterior facial height (Ans-Me) (p<0.05), as well as SNB, SNPg and ML/SN angles (p<0.05) compared to the normal-weight controls. Moreover, high BMI females showed greater maxillary length (Pm-A) and SNA angle (p<0.05), whereas males exhibited greater posterior facial height (S-Go) (p<0.05) compared to the controls. Conclusions. Weight status is an important factor that can affect craniofacial growth pattern and should be taken into consideration when planning orthopaedic treatment in adolescent patients.