The morphometric analysis of cranial base in Class III malocclusion

Dental occlusion plays an important role in the mastication, deglutition and speaking. Hence, the study of the mechanism of malocclusion has its significant contribution for clinical application and treatment. This study investigated the morphometric difference in cranial base between normal occlusion and Class III malocclusion groups, utilizing the thin-plate spline and finite element morphometric analysis combined with the cephalometric analysis. By construction the mapping function from thin-plate spline, it is possible to visualize the morphometric differences and further transfer these mapping results to finite element meshing to obtain the strain tensor for quantitative analysis. The advantage of this approach is that the detail distribution of shape and size difference values between normal occlusion I and Class III groups as well as the principal directions of the morphometric changes could be obtained. These could afford useful information in understanding the Class III malocclusion and provide suitable treatment.