Occlusal plane related to skeletal pattern in mixed dentition stage: a descriptive cephalometric study

Basic studies and researches on craniofacial growth show that occlusal plane changes its position in space and time during the whole period of development and growth of the skull until the attainment of the mature dentition stage. The purpose of this retrospective study is to evaluate the inclination of the gnatological occlusal plane related to the axio-orbital plane and their relations with skeletal pattern in a group of subjects during the period of mixed dentition stage. This is performed analyzing cephalometric tracings of 714 untreated children between 5.6 and 12 years old. Observations of data indicate that there is difference in inclination between skeletal class I, class II and class III, being more steep in class II and more flat in class III. Variations between the “subclasses” demonstrate very high degree of “individuality” of the inclination of the occlusal plane related to the functional axio-orbital plane in subjects in mixed dentition stage.