Prevalence of Mandibular Asymmetries in Growing Patients

The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of mandibular asymmetries during the mixed dentition in growing children. For this purpose, a retrospective study was designed where various measurements were performed on the right and left sides of the mandible of panoramic radiographs of 327 children (males: 169; females: 158), 8–12 years old. Four linear measurements, mandibular ramus height, ramus width, corpus height, and corpus length, and two angles, mandibular gonial (Go) and mandibular condyle (Co), and the developmental stage of the permanent lower second molar were analysed. All measurements were adjusted for the magnification factor. The final data were then processed for the asymmetry index (AI) to determine the severity of the asymmetries and statistically analysed by Wilcoxon paired tests at the 95 per cent level of confidence.