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Facial soft tissue thickness in South Indian adults with varied occlusions – A cone beam computed tomography study

Background: Facial soft tissue (FST) thickness is crucial to reconstruct a recognizable face from an unknown skull. Straight, convex, and concave profiles of the human face in class I, class II, and class III occlusal patterns, respectively, suggest the possibility of skeletal class to have a significant influence on FST thickness of an individual. The aim of this study was to collect and compare FST thickness in South Indian adults based on gender and varied occlusions. Materials and Methods: Cone beam computed tomography scans of 90 South Indian subjects (45 of each gender) age 18–35 years were categorized according to their dentoskeletal relationships as class I (ANB = 2–40), class II (ANB >40), and class III (ANB <20) with 30 subjects in each class and FST thickness at 34 landmarks (12 midline and 11 bilateral) were measured. Results: Significant differences were present at nasion, mid-nasal, rhinion, subnasal, labrale superius, and mid-supraorbital and infra canine in men and at mentolabial sulcus and gonion in women demonstrating variation in soft tissue thickness among different occlusions. In addition, gender-based differences were observed among the skeletal classes with men having thicker tissues at a majority of the measured landmarks. Sexual dimorphism was distinct in skeletal classes I and III occlusal patterns. Conclusion: Dentoskeletal morphology-related variations in FST thickness observed in this study highlight the need for anthropological analysis of the skull focusing on occlusal pattern along with age and sex during facial reconstruction to achieve better results.