Facial Soft Tissue Evaluation in Individuals with Normal Occlusion and Skeletal Relationship

Statement of Problem: Despite numerous cephalometric studies and criteria proposed with respect to standards for hard tissue, studying and analysis of soft tissue has received much less attention in Iran. This study aimed to evaluate adults facial soft tissue with normal occlusion and skeletal relationships in Fars province. In this study 1500 university students in the age range of 18-24 years were examined clinically. From whom, those with normal occlusion and balanced faces were selected for cephalometric evaluation. After analysis, 44 subjects including 23 females and 21 males with normal cephalometric measurements were selected to conduct Steiner, Rickett’s, Merrifield and Holdaway analysis on their facial soft tissue. The obtained values were then compared with standard ones using the above Cephalometric soft tissue analysis and the T and Leven’s statistical tests. According to the results of Merrifield analysis, values for the Z angle were almost identical and did not display a significant variation within each of the female and male groups. Using the Rickett’s analysis, the mean distance for upper and lower lips from the E-line were not radically different, and similar values were obtained for both groups. The male subjects had more distinctive projected lips compared to their female counterpart. According to the results obtained from Steiner analysis, the mean distance value for the male group was higher than that of the female group. However the results from Holdaway analysis showed that only three variables out of a total of 11, chin thickness, upper lip thickness and the extent of upper lip strain had a statistically significant difference between the two subject groups. The remaining measured variables did not display any significant differences. We can conclude that men suffered from a higher upper lip strain compared with women. Furthermore, with the exception of Steiner and Holdaway (only for three of the measurements), statistically no significant differences were observed between the values of the sampled subjects and those sampled outside Iran.