Relationships among maxillofacial morphologies, bone properties, and bone metabolic markers in patients with jaw deformities

The aim of this study was to determine the relationships among bone properties, bone metabolic markers, and types of jaw deformity. The subjects were 55 female patients with jaw deformities. Skeletal morphology was examined using lateral cephalograms, and the patients were divided into three groups according to the type of anteroposterior skeletal pattern. Serum osteocalcin, bone alkaline phosphatase, and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase isoform 5b, as well as deoxypyridinoline in urine, were measured as bone metabolic markers. Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) measurements were used to assess bone properties at the calcaneal bone. The bone volume and bone density of the condylar process were measured in 43 patients by computed tomography. There were no significant differences in bone metabolic markers and QUS parameters between the groups, although bone formation and resorption markers tended to be higher in patients with a protrusive mandible. On the other hand, patients with mandibular retrusion had a higher tendency to have small and dense condylar processes. In conclusion, the results suggest that growth depression or a degenerative change in the mandibular condyle is involved in the pathogenesis of mandibular retrusion, although risk factors for progressive condylar resorption were not determined.