Craniofacial Measurements and Indices Trends in Latvian Children Aged 1-15

Craniofacial development is a critical aspect of pediatric growth, influencing fields such as physical anthropology, pediatrics, forensic sciences, and clinical practice.

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to assess the trends in craniofacial measurements and indices in Latvian children aged 1-15.

METHODS

The anthropometrical measurements (head circumference, length, width, facial length, and width) were conducted on 375 children according to the guidelines by R. Martin, K. Saller, and J. Prīmanis at the Anthropology laboratory at the Institute of Anatomy and Anthropology, Rīga Stradiņš University. The cephalic index (CI) and the facial or prosopic index (PI) were calculated, allowing for a detailed examination of cranial and facial proportions. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, including the Pearson Chi-square test and the Spearman correlation coefficient.

RESULTS

The findings revealed a consistent increase in head circumference with age, with boys generally having slightly larger heads than girls. The boys and girls exhibited growth in head length and width, particularly noticeable between 1 and 2 years of age. Facial length and width increased with age, with boys typically having longer facial lengths and broader faces than girls. The most common cephalic index category is mesocephaly, which accounts for 52.85% of the population, followed by dolichocephaly at 32.94%. Brachycephaly and hyperbrachycephaly are less prevalent, representing 11.36% and 2.86% of the population. Regarding the facial index categories, hypereuryprosopic is the most prevalent, representing 45.54% of the population, closely followed by euryprosopic at 43.74%. Mesoprosopic is significantly less common, representing only 9.95%. The least common categories are leptoprosopic and hyperleptoprosopic, with prevalences of 0.64% and 0.12%, respectively. The indices analysis showed variations across age groups, with dolichocephaly being more common at younger ages and decreasing over time. Brachycephaly and hyperbrachycephaly remained relatively stable or decreased slightly with age, while mesocephaly displayed less variation. The relationship between the FI and CI in younger age groups was typically weak to moderate and inverse, with a significance level of p < 0.001 or p < 0.01. However, no meaningful correlation was observed in older children aged 14-15.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides valuable insights into the craniofacial development of Latvian children, highlighting the measurements, cranial and facial types, and their variations across age groups.

Cephalometric Analysis, Severity Malocclusion, and Orthodontic Treatment Need Using IOTN in Deaf Children

Objectives  Studies associated with deaf children's malocclusion and their treatment need are still very rare. Therefore, cephalometric analysis with the ability to access the skeletal, dental, and soft tissues can be used to score the severity of malocclusion and index of orthodontic treatment need (IOTN) in deaf children. This study examined the use of cephalometric analysis, severity malocclusion, and orthodontic treatment need in deaf students at special need school type B (SLB-B) Tunarungu Karya Mulia in Surabaya using IOTN along with investigating IOTN correlation with the result of dental cephalometric analysis and dental health component (DHC) and aesthetic component (AC) in IOTN index.

Material and Methods  Sample data consisted of 33 students between the ages of 8 to 12 years old and never had any orthodontic treatment. This investigation applied the indices from IOTN, in which DHC had 10 malocclusions, and AC with the aesthetic anterior dentition comprising 10 color photographs and different dental attractiveness levels. In addition, scores were chosen from the worst feature, with the data analyzed at a significant correlation test of 0.05%.

Result  There was no skeletal abnormality in deaf children. It displayed the highest number of malocclusion severity scores, while the DHC assessment showed the moderate and severe categories. Based on AC evaluation, the highest numbers of malocclusion severity were found in good and moderate category in terms of teeth arrangement and aesthetic.

Conclusion  There was a correlation between the dental cephalometric analysis in deaf children and treatment need using IOTN with AC and DHC.

Measuring orthodontic treatment impact: Description or judgment, challenge or result

INTRODUCTION

Determination of improvement in orthodontic treatment may depend on the measurement method used and the purpose.

METHODS

Improvement after orthodontic treatment (from T1 to T2 [beginning to end of treatment]) was assessed 3 ways from a set of 98 patient records: (1) calculated by subtracting judges' assessments at T2 from T1 for records presented in random order, (2) judged as a holistic impression viewing T1 and T2 records side by side, and (3) determined from proxies (American Board of Orthodontics Discrepancy Index, the American Board of Orthodontics Objective Grading System, and the Peer Assessment Rating index).

RESULTS

High levels of intramethod consistency were observed, with intraclass correlation coefficient clustering around an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.900, and distributions were normal. Calculated and judged improvements correlated at r = 0.606. Calculated or judged improvements were correlated at a lower level with proxies. Calculated improvement was significantly associated with "challenge" (T1) scores and judged improvement associated with "results" (T2) scores. Common method bias was observed, with higher correlations among similar indexes than among indexes at the same time that used various methods. Relative to differences in Peer Assessment Rating scores, calculated improvement overestimated low scores and underestimated high ones. The same effect, but statistically greater, was observed using direct judgment of improvement.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings are consistent with decision science and measurement theory. In some circumstances, such as third-party reimbursement and research, operationally defined measures of occlusion are appropriate. In practice, the determination of occlusion and improvement are best performed by judgment that naturally corrects for biases in proxies and incorporates background information.

Estimation of the prevalence of malocclusion on the basis of nationwide oral health examinations of pre-adolescent and adolescent students during 2012-2017

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the prevalence of malocclusion with respect to grade, sex, and year among Korean pre-adolescent and adolescent students during 2012-2017.

METHODS

A total of 165,996 students (first grade [E1, 6-7 years of age], fourth grade [E4, 9-10 years], seventh grade [M1, 12-13 years], and tenth grade [H1, 15-16 years]) were selected by stratified sampling method and underwent the nationwide oral health examination performed by the Ministry of Education, Republic of Korea. The malocclusion assessments based on dentists' judgments were "no malocclusion," "needs orthodontic treatment (N-OTx)," and "under orthodontic treatment (U-OTx)." The sum of N-OTx and U-OTx cases was determined as the number of students with malocclusion. After analyzing the prevalence of malocclusion according to grade, sex, and year-by-year differences, Pearson correlation analyses and two-way analyses of variance were performed.

RESULTS

The prevalence of malocclusion was 18.7%, which increased with the grades (E1 [8.3%] < E4 [15.8%] < M1 [22.9%] < H1 [25.3%], p < 0.001). However, there was no significant difference in the prevalence of malocclusion in each grade group for the period (p > 0.05) without significant correlation (E1, ρ = 0.129; E4, ρ = -0.495; M1, ρ = 0.406; H1, ρ = -0.383; all p > 0.05). The prevalence of malocclusion within each grade group over the six-year period was more prominent in the female (p < 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS

Further studies are necessary to modify the malocclusion assessment method to account for specific types of malocclusion in pre-adolescent and adolescent students.

Further opportunities for digital imaging in dental epidemiology

Dental epidemiological research permits accurate tracking of the prevalence and distribution of oral disease across population groups, enabling planning and evaluation of public health interventions and healthcare service provision. This first section of this paper aimed to review traditional assessment methods in dental epidemiology and to consider the methodological and logistical benefits provided by digital imaging, both generally and specifically in relation to an established dual-camera system. The remainder of this paper describes the results of a semi-structured examination of an image archive from previous research utilising a dual-camera system, exploring whether the diagnostic yield of the images might be increased. Common oral conditions are presented alongside suggestions of the diagnostically useful data displayed in example images. Possible scoring mechanisms are discussed with consideration of the limitations that might be encountered for each condition. The retrospective examination suggests further data is obtainable from images acquired using the dual-camera system, however, consideration should be given to how best to validate this clinically. Additionally, other imaging modalities are discussed whilst taking into account the potential limitations of the dual-camera system.