Cephalometric Determination of the Vertical Dimension of Occlusion: Clinical Study

Abstract

The following is a retrospective descriptive cross-sectional stud aimed at determining the vertical cephalometric standards of a Moroccan population. The values found will be used to orient the choice of the VDO during complex prosthetic rehabilitations where all dental references are absent. The study was conducted on 80 teleradiographies of subjects consulting the ODF department of the CCTD Casablanca with a skeletal class 1 dental occlusion in the absence of any previous or current orthodontic treatment. After performing the cephalometric tracings, we correlated the VDO with 7 angular measurements: ENA-Xi-Pm, GoGn/SN, Occ/SN, Occ/Fr, SGn/Fr, FMA, GoGn/GoENA. Our study led us to the following results: • For the ENA-Xi-Pm angle, we found a mean value of 47.9. • The GoGn/SN angle averaged 38.3°, it varied in 37.29.° • For the Occ/SN angle, it was found that the average value was 21.2° for the whole sample. • The Occ/Fr angle was on average 9.9.° • The SGn/Fr angle averaged 60° in the Moroccan population. • The measurement of the FMA angle showed an average of 27. • Finally, for the GoGn/GoENA angle, we found a mean value of 50. The comparison of our results with those of studies conducted on different populations showed significant differences. This can be explained by the tendency to hyperdivergence in the Moroccan population, hence the interest in using the mean values specific to each population. The comparison of the global means with the means of each group showed that the angular values in hyperdivergent cases are significantly higher than the global values and the angular values in hypodivergent cases are significantly lower than the global values, and for the normodivergent cases, we found a significant difference only for the values of the FMA angle which is lower than the global value of the sample. And thus, the determination of the VDO using cephalometric analysis represents one of the best methods to correctly restore the occlusal environment in a complex prosthetic project, given that the restauration is based on cephalometric standards of the corresponding population.