THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HEAD POSTURE AND SKELETAL ANTERO-POSTERIOR JAW RELATIONSHIPS IN DIFFERENT SEX GROUPS

Objectives: This study aimed at comparing head posture and skeletal antero posterior jaw relationship in different sex groups.
Materials and methods: the study group consisted of 505 lateral cephalograms representing skeletal groups of Class I,II, and III based on ANB angle.Each group was subdivided into two subgroups according to gender : subgroup 1 (females) and subgroup 2 (males). Several cephalometric parameters and head posture variable were measured on the cephalograms . Head posture variables were compared in different antero-posterior jaw relationship and different sex groups. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multivariate analysis were used for statistical analysis.
Results: In the total sample, the only significant difference in head posture variable between different skeletal classes was NSL_Ver (P<0.05) between Class II and Class III skeletal relationships.There were significant differences in most of the head posture variables between both genders in the total sample at different P levels.
Conclusion: Class II patients exhibited more head extension relative to the true vertical plane than Class III patients. Females exhibiting more head extension relative to the cervical column than males, more forward cervical inclination and more cervical curvature also were noticed in females than males in the total sample.