Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the position of the chin of untreated male and female Class I growing subjects. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A sample of 51 growing Class I subjects, 29 male and 22 female, from 7 to 16 years of age, was studied. The total number of 359 lateral cephalograms included at least one cephalogram for each subject taken in the early mixed dentition (younger than 10 years), one in late mixed dentition (between 10 and 12 years), and one in the permanent dentition phase (older than 12 years old). RESULTS: Descriptive statistics for the X component (horizontal) and Y component (vertical) of the cephalometric landmark Gnathion (Gn) were recorded. Student t-tests showed no differences between male and female growing subjects for the X component (horizontal), but significant differences for the Y component (vertical). CONCLUSIONS: Displacement of the mandible over the timeframe studied differs between male and female untreated subjects. Although most of the orthodontic literature addresses such differences as an anteroposterior phenomenon, this study found that the difference is mainly due to the vertical, and not horizontal, component of such displacement.