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. 2021 Feb 17;10(4):800.
doi: 10.3390/jcm10040800.

Incisor Occlusion Affects Profile Shape Variation in Middle-Aged Adults

Georgios Kanavakis  1   2   3 , Anna-Sofia Silvola  3   4 , Demetrios Halazonetis  5 , Raija Lähdesmäki  3   4 , Pertti Pirttiniemi  3   4
Affiliations

Incisor Occlusion Affects Profile Shape Variation in Middle-Aged Adults

Georgios Kanavakis et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the effect of overjet and overbite on profile shape in middle-aged individuals.

Methods: The study population comprised 1754 46-year-old individuals, members of the 1966 Northern Finland Birth Cohort. Their profile images were digitized using 48 landmarks and semi-landmarks. The subsequent landmark coordinates were then transformed to shape coordinates through Procrustes Superimposition, and final data were reduced into Principal Components (PCs) of shape. Overjet and overbite values were measured manually, during a clinical examination. A multivariate regression model was developed to evaluate the effect of overjet and overbite on profile shape.

Results: The first nine PCs described more than 90% of profile shape variation in the sample and were used as the shape variables in all subsequent analyses. Overjet predicted 21.3% of profile shape in the entire sample (η2overjet = 0.213; p < 0.001), while the effect of overbite was weaker (η2overbite = 0.138; p < 0.001). In males, the equivalent effects were 22.6% for overjet and 14% for overbite, and in females, 25.5% and 13.5%, respectively.

Conclusion: Incisor occlusion has a noteworthy effect on profile shape in middle-aged adults. Its impact becomes more significant taking into consideration the large variety of genetic and environmental factors affecting soft tissue profile.

Keywords: adults; morphometrics; occlusion; overbite; overjet; profile shape.

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Conflict of interest statement

Demetrios Halazonetis owns stock in dHAL Software, the company that markets Viewbox 4. The other authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Principal Component Analysis (PCA) graph displaying facial variation according to sex (in SD units), in the entire sample, as explained by PC1 (33.1%) and PC2 (23.1%) (Females: light red, Males: blue). (b) Average male (blue) and average female (light red) shape with respective SDs, as described by PC1 and PC2. (c) PCA graph displaying facial variation according to sex (in SD units), in the entire sample, as explained by PC3 (11%) and PC2 (6.7%) (Females: light red, Males: blue). (d) Average male (blue) and average female (light red) shape with respective SDs, as described by PC3 and PC4.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Association between overjet (a) and overbite (b) and the first primary PCs, explaining >70% of the sample variability.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Profile morphings according to overjet (top row) and overbite (bottom row). The middle column depicts the average facial shape of the entire sample, as well as the amount and direction of variation at each profile landmark (blue: positive, red: negative), as explained by overjet (top row) and overbite (bottom row) values. On each row, the images left and right of the average present profile shapes of extreme overjet (top) and overbite (bottom) values.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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