Nasal Morphology as an Indicator of Maxillomandibular Skeletal Pattern.

[OBJECTIVE] To determine the correlation of nasal morphology with maxillary and mandibular patterns.

[STUDY DESIGN] Descriptive cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of the Study: Department of Orthodontics, Liaquat College of Medicine and Dentistry and Qamar Dental Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan, , Liaquat College of Medicine & Dentistry and Darul Sehat Hospital Karachi, Pakistan from January to June, 2022.

[METHODOLOGY] The pre-treatment lateral cephalograms of 120 patients, aged 18-35 years were included in the study. Eleven nasal parameters were traced on lateral cephalograms and correlated with four maxillary and mandibular skeletal parameters by Pearson correlation coefficient test using SPSS version 26.0.

[RESULTS] Nasal bone length and nasal base angle showed a negative correlation with maxillary and mandibular position. Nasal upward tip angle was correlated positively with maxillary position whereas nasal tip angle was found to be negatively correlated with maxillary length. A negative correlation was observed between nasolabial angle and mandibular position. Nasal bone angle depicted a positive correlation with maxillary position and a negative correlation with jaw lengths and mandibular inclination.

[CONCLUSION] Nasal morphology has a strong correlation with maxillary as well as mandibular base lengths and position but not with inclination of the jaws. The acquaintance of the relationship of different nasal parameters with jaw parameters might be helpful in diagnosis and treatment planning and to attain the favourable treatment outcomes in patients undergoing orthodontic treatment, orthopedic interventions, orthognathic, genioplasty, rhinoplasty, profiloplasty and other procedures.

[KEY WORDS] Nasal morphology, Maxillomandibular skeletal pattern, Jaw length, Jaw position, Jaw inclination.