Position of Tongue in skeletal Class II & Class III - ACephalometric study

The disturbances of oro-facial functions lead to abnormal growth & development of the oro-facial complex. The objective of the study was to compare the tongue position in different antero-posterior skeletal pattern i.e. Class II & Class III. Using four parameter, tongue length, tongue height, relation of palatal plane to tongue and pharyngeal wall to tongue. Samples size was calculated using Cohen’s formula , consisted of 102 individuals from the Out-patient department from the Post-graduate department of Orthodontics &Dentofacial Orthopaedics, Government Dental College &Hospital, Srinagar. Standardized lateral cephalograms were taken for all the subjects. The radiograph was taken by the same operator in the same machine. The lateral cephalograms were segregated into skeletal Class II & skeletal Class III using three different skeletal parameters. All the lateral cephlograms were traced and Independent t-test was used for comparison and final analysis was done using SPSS software. It was found that the length of the tongue was significantly longer in Class III subjects when compared to Class II subjects, also the tongue was placed closed to pharyngeal wall in Class II subjects compared to Class III subjects. A significant positive correlation was established between the tongue position and the Class II & Class III skeletal patterns.