International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Clinical Paper
Orthognathic SurgeryA comparison of craniofacial morphology in patients with and without facial asymmetry—a three-dimensional analysis with computed tomography
Orthognathic Surgery
Section snippets
Patients
The present study consisted of 42 adult patients (20 males, 22 females) with dentofacial deformity who had undergone a 3D CT scan for the purpose of presurgical evaluation at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Kyungpook National University Hospital. The subjects were divided into two groups: Asymmetry group (n = 24, average age = 23.4) and Non-asymmetry group (n = 18, average age = 22.6). As the mandibular chin has the greatest effect in determining facial appearance15, facial asymmetry
Results
The errors of intra-observer precision were 1.4 mm, 1.0 mm, 1.3 mm for the x, y, and z coordinates, respectively, whereas it was 1.62° for the angular measurements and 1.7 mm for the linear measurements. There was no statistical difference detected between the original and repeated measurements.
Discussion
This study intended to quantify craniofacial morphology in adult patients who visited our clinic in order to correct their facial asymmetry. Relating factors of morphological deformity between the cranial and maxillomandibular structures in the three planes of space were investigated, which had not been thoroughly analyzed before. Previously, the morphological characteristics of an asymmetric face had been analyzed by two-dimensional (2D) radiographs. In the 3D study, measurements (distance,
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by a Grant from the Korea Research Foundation (KRF-2004-003-E00227).
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