Evaluation of body posture associated with Class II and Class III malocclusion

• Published in: Revista odonto ciência Vol. 23; no. 1
• Main Authors: Pereira Rosa, Luciano, Cesar de Moraes, Luiz, Eli Leonelli de Moraes, Mari, Medici Filho, Edmundo, Cezar de Melo Castilho, Julio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Porto Alegre EDIPUCRS 01.01.2008
• ISSN: 0102-9460; 1980-6523

Purpose: To evaluate body posture of subjects with skeletal Class II and Class III malocclusions. Methods: The sample was composed by 59 patients, aged between 7 and 12 years-old, male or female gender. Body posture variables comprised frontal (biocular, bicomissural, and biacromial lines) and saggital (lumbar and cervical lordosis, forward head position) variables, which were analyzed by means of digital photographs of the entire body. Class II or Class III malocclusions were defined by cephalometric analysis. Results: For Class II malocclusion 75% of the patients had abnormal lumbar lordosis. Regarding cervical lordosis, 25% of the patients with Class II and Class III malocclusion presented values out of the normality range. Ninety-two percent of the patients with Class III malocclusion showed forward head position. Conclusion: In the frontal analysis all subjects of this sample were out of the normal pattern for the biocular, bicomissural, and biacromial lines. The forward head posture was the most frequent alteration in subjects with Class II and Class III malocclusion. Key words: Human body; posture; malocclusion; lordosis; stomatognatic system