Computer-aided morphological analysis for maxillo-facial diagnostic: a preliminary study

SummaryThis article compares most of the three-dimensional (3D) morphometric methods currently proposed by the technical literature to evaluate their morphological informative value, while applying them to a case study of five patients affected by the malocclusion pathology. The compared methods are: conventional cephalometric analysis (CCA), generalised Procrustes superimposition (GPS) with principal-components analysis (PCA), thin-plate spline analysis (TPS), multisectional spline (MS) and clearance vector mapping (CVM).The results show that MS provides more reliable and useful diagnostic information.