Evaluation of Morphological Variants of the Soft Palate on Digital Lateral Cephalometric Image among Iranian Patients

Background and Objecitve: Morphological varieties of anatomical structures are different from one ethnic population to another. Awareness of these varieties helps in diagnosis and treatment of related disorders. The purpose of this study was to assess the morphological varieties of the soft palate in lateral. cephalometric images of Iranian patients.
Subjects and In this descriptive analytical study, 385 digital lateral cephalometric images of Iranian patients were investigated in some cities of the country. Demographic data were collected. A classification with 6 groups including leaf-shaped, rat-tail, butt-like, straight-lined, distorted and crook-shaped was used. All the radiographs were analyzed and categorized into six types according to the soft palate morphology by an oral and maxillofacial radiologist. Data were imported in the statistical software (SPSS 20 for Windows, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). Demographical data were collected. The morphology types of soft palate were compared among both sexes and different age groups using Chi-square and ANOVA statistical test (α=0∙05).
The leaf-shaped soft palate was the most frequent morphology (46.8%) and the least common morphology was crook type (3.6%). There was no significant statistical difference between the morphology of soft palate between genders and different age groups (P > 0.05).
The leaf-shaped soft palate was the most common morphology in Iranian population. There was no significant statistical difference between the morphology of soft palate of males and females. There was no significant statistical difference between the morphology of soft palate in different age groups.