[Condylar morphological changes before and after orthodontic treatment for angle Class I malocclusion adult patients].

PURPOSE: To evaluate the condylar morphological changes in adult Angle Class I malocclusionpatients before and after orthodontic treatment using a cone-beam CT (CBCT).

METHODS

Images of 25 adult Angle Class I patients (5 males, 20 females) who had no temporomandibular joint disorder symptom were involved in this study, and Mimics 10.01 software was used to reconstruct the three-dimensional condyle and measure the height of condyle, the area and bone density of the largest cross sectional plane and sagittal plane, and the volume and bone density of the whole and upper three-dimensional condyle before and after orthodontic treatment. Paired t test was used for comparison between pre- and post-treatment condylar metric analysis with SPSS 19.0 software package.

RESULTS

After treatment, the area and bone density of the largest cross sectional plane and sagittal plane were reduced significantly(P<0.05). The volume and bone density of the whole three-dimensional condyle and bone density of the upper three-dimensional condyle were reduced significantly(P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Adaptive bone remodeling of the condyle may occur due to alternation of occlusion by orthodontic treatment in adult Angle Class I malocclusion patients.