Evaluation of Cervical Posture of Adolescent Subjects in Skeletal Class I, II, and III Evaluación de la Postura Cervical en Sujetos Adolescentes con Clase Esqueletal I, II y III

The aim of this study was to investigate whether there are significant differences in cervical posture in adolescent subjects with a different skeletal class. Twenty-eight adolescent subjects (21 boys and 7 girls, average age of 13.6 years, SD±3.2) who were admitted for orthodontic treatment were included in this study. Selection criteria were as follows: no previous orthodontic, orthopaedic, or surgical treatment and absence of facial asymmetry, bruxism, nasal obstruction, orofacial pain, and temporomandibular joint dysfunction. Lateral skull radiographs were taken, and the subjects were divided into three groups based on their skeletal class according to ANB angle and Wits appraisal. The cephalometric tracings included cervical postural variables and cervical curvature. By Pearson′s correlation analysis (using the variables as continuous), we found a high linear relationship between the variables angle ANB and Wits appraisal (0.7895) and between cervical curvature and C0-C1 distance (0.6384). Statistical significance was observed between ANB angle and cervical curvature (p = 0.039) and C0-C1 distance (p = 0.045) variables, whereas Wits appraisal showed no significant association with any study variable (p > 0.05). The cervical curvature was different between the groups; however, both averages turned out to have more characteristics of rectified cervical, being female clearly the most affected, as well as an average lower than the standard posterior-inferior angle, which shows a more posterior rotation of the skull. The cervical posture seems to be strongly associated with the sagittal posture as well as the vertical structure of the face, with these data being complementary to other determinants of craniofacial growth and development. El objetivo de este estudio fue investigar si existen diferencias significativas en la postura cervical de pacientes adolescentes con diferente clase esqueletal. Veintiocho adolescentes (21 hombres y 7 mujeres, edad promedio 13,6 a os, DE±3,2) fueron admitidos para este estudio y el tratamiento de ortodoncia. Fueron seleccionados sujetos sin antecedentes de tratamiento ortodóncico, ortopédico o quirúrgico previo, asimetría facial, bruxismo, obstrucción nasal, dolor orofacial y disfunción de la articulación temporomandibular. Para cada caso se tomaron radiografías laterales de cráneo y los sujetos fueron divididos en tres grupos basados en su clase esqueletal según el ángulo ANB y la evaluación de Wits. Los trazados cefalométricos incluyeron las variables postural cervical y curvatura cervical. Mediante el análisis de corr