Evaluation of Mandibular Asymmetry in Unilateral and Bilateral Posterior Crossbite Patients

The aim was to evaluate the mandibular vertical asymmetry, in unilateral and bilateral posterior crossbite patients both in permanent and mixed dentition. One hundred twenty one panoramic radiographs were collected, 57 from patients with unilateral posterior crossbite, 21 patients with bilateral posterior crossbite and 43 with normal occlusion that were used as a control group. Subsequently, reference points and cephalometric traces were drawn manually by a calibrated examiner in order to register the condylar, coronoideal, and ramal heigths. This data was used to calculate an asymmetry index for each structure. According to the distribution of the variables, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare the data between groups of patients and chi square was used to evaluate association between them, at the 95% confidence interval (p<.05). Statistically significant differences were found in the ramal and condylar-plus-ramal asymmetry index values, between the control and the unilateral posterior crossbite group, also statistical differences were found in the coronoideal index values, between the control and the bilateral posterior crossbite groups. On the other hand, the bilateral crossbite group, presented a higher percentage of patients with condylar and ramal asymmetry, finding a mild statistically significant association between this condition and those with asymmetry. Condylar and coronoideal asymmetry was found both in the unilateral as in the unilateral posterior crossbite patients. The bilateral crossbite group, presented a major percentage of patients with asymmetry, with a mild association between those conditions.