Contemporary skull development - palatal angle analysis.

Objectives:The palatal angle is an important angle of the craniofacial complex. It is significant for the diagnosis of craniofacial disorders mainly for nasopharyngeal soft-tissue patterns. Background The dentists and otorhinolaryngologists use this relationship to establish proper treatment mechanics and evaluate facial profile. The aims of this study were to provide comparative cephalometric analyses of historical and contemporary skulls. Materials and method:A total of 190 cephalograms of 2 groups of subjects were evaluated. Dolphin Imaging 11.0 - Cephalometric Tracing Analysis was used for the analysis. Unpaired two-tailed t-test assuming equality of variances was used for all variables (at the significance level p = 0.0001). Results: The modern forensic skulls had larger palatal angle at average value of 8.60 degrees +/- 4.35, than that of archeological ones, the average value of which was 6.50 degrees +/- 3.92. The difference was found significant. Unpaired two-tailed t-test assuming equality of variances showed that historical and contemporary skulls had statistically significant results. The difference was -2.09 with standard error of 0.60 (95% confidence interval from -3.29 to -0.89). Two-tailed probability attained value of P was less than 0.0001. Conclusion: The difference between both groups was found significant. An increase in the palatal angle can be directly connected with anterior rotation of upper jaw(Tab. 2, Fig. 5, Ref. 19).Text in PDF www.elis.sk.