Morphological analysis of mandibular anterior alveolar bone in high-angle adult females assessed with cone-beam computed tomography

To investigate the features of alveolar bone morphology of mandibular central incisors in high-angle adult females using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) and evaluate the influence of aging in these patients.

CBCT and lateral cephalometric images of 142 untreated adult female patients were selected and grouped by facial growth pattern. The number of high-angle cases was increased to 164 to further explore the difference within high-angle adult females who were divided into two groups according to age. The indexes of alveolar bone height and thickness in the lower incisor region and inclination of the lower incisors were measured by Dolphin software. The data was statistically analyzed.

Compared with the average-angle group, the high-angle group had a lower alveolar bone attachment level (P < 0.05) and less bone thickness at the root apex level (P < 0.05). The thickness of lingual alveolar bone decreased with labial inclination of the lower incisors in both the high-angle and average-angle groups (r = -0.251, P = 0.025; r = -0.428, P = 0.001, respectively). In hyperdivergent female patients, the middle-aged group had a lower attachment level of alveolar bone than the young group (P < 0.05), but no significant difference in bone thickness at the root apex level (P > 0.05) was found between the two groups.

High-angle adult females had thinner mandibular anterior alveolar bone with significantly lower attachment levels. Aging and inclination of lower incisors influenced bone morphology and should be taken into careful consideration.