The Relationship between Skeletal Configuration and Soft Tissue Changes af ter Bracket Debonding using Repeatable Photographic Tool

Abstract

Background: The presence of labial orthodontic appliances may impact final esthetic change after debonding. The skeletal configurations that support the soft tissue profile have not been examined their impact on the lip profile after debonding. Objective: To evaluate the effect of bonded orthodontic brackets on the lip change after the debonding and determine the correlation between the change in the lip profile and skeletal configuration. Materials and methods: Photographs were taken with a head fixer in thirty-three patients who had completed fixed orthodontic treatment before and immediately after bracket debonding to investigate the results of the change in the nasolabial and mentolabial angles using the Paired t test ( = 0.05). The posttreatment lateral cephalometric measurements were used to find the correlation of skeletal configuration to the change in soft tissue profile using Pearson’s correlation and one-way ANOVA. Results: Mentolabial angle significantly increased after debonding (P = 0.04). However, the Pearson correlation between soft tissue changes and underlying skeletal configurations was insignificant. (SNA with nasolabial angle: r = 0.13, P = 0.46; SNB with mentolabial angle: r = - 0.00, P = 0.98). Using one-way ANOVA, skeletal configurations demonstrated no significant difference compared with the mean difference in nasolabial angle (P = 0.69) and mean difference in mentolabial angle (P = 0.15). Conclusion: After debonding, the lower lip profile was flattened, however, the upper lip profile was maintained compared with the nose. There was no significant correlation between the change of nasolabial/mentolabial angles and the skeletal configurations.