Transverse dental compensation in relation to sagittal and transverse skeletal discrepancies in skeletal Class III patients

•We compared skeletal Class III and Class I patients.•Class III patients had more buccal inclination of the maxillary posterior teeth.•Class III patients had more lingual inclination of the mandibular second molars.•Deviated side in Class III patients with asymmetry showed transverse dental compensation.•Nondeviated side showed no significant transverse dental compensation.•Transverse dental compensation was closely related to skeletal discrepancies.

IntroductionThe purposes of this study were to compare the buccolingual inclinations of the posterior teeth in skeletal Class III patients with and without facial asymmetry with those of skeletal Class I patients and to investigate their relationships with sagittal and transverse skeletal discrepancies.MethodsSixty-three skeletal Class III adult patients were divided into 2 groups according to the degree of menton deviation: a symmetry group with deviation less than 2 mm (n = 30), and an asymmetry group with deviation greater than 4 mm (n = 33). The control group comprised 25 skeletal Class I patients. The buccolingual inclinations of the posterior teeth measured on cone-beam computed tomography images were compared among the 3 groups, and regression analysis was performed to investigate the relationships between the inclinations and the sagittal and transverse skeletal discrepancies.ResultsThe symmetry group showed greater buccal inclinations of the maxillary posterior teeth and lingual inclinations of the mandibular second molars than did the control, and this was correlated with the ANB angles. The deviated sides in the asymmetry group showed the greatest transverse dental compensation, which was correlated with menton deviation, whereas the nondeviated sides showed no significant transverse dental compensation.ConclusionsTransverse dental compensation is closely related to sagittal and transverse skeletal discrepancy in skeletal Class III patients.