Cephalometric predictors of long-term stability in the early treatment of class III malocclusion

The aim of this study was to examine the differences in the early craniofacial morphology of Class III malocclusions. Lateral cephalograms of 45 subjects with a Class III malocclusion and an anterior crossbite in the deciduous or mixed dentition were examined before treatment, after treatment, and during the long-term retention stage. The anterior crossbites of all patients were corrected after a series of orthodontic treatments. After a mean follow-up period of 5.7 years, all the subjects were reevaluated and divided into three groups according to the final occlusal status: good, fair, and poor occlusal stability. Twenty cephalometric variables on the pretreatment lateral cephalograms were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance and discriminant analysis to identify the key determinants for discriminating among the three groups. Among the 20 variables, 11 showed statistical significance. Generally, the subjects with a smaller gonial angle and a more hypodivergent skeletal pattern had good prognosis after the early treatment of Class III malocclusion. When the AB to mandibular plane angle and N-perpendicular to point A were selected in discriminant analysis, the AB to mandibular plane angle was the most significant variable. Discriminant analysis showed a relatively high degree of correct classifications of the patients with early Class III malocclusion. In particular, discriminant analysis showed the highest accuracy (93.3%) when predicting a poor prognosis.