A study of relative proportions of skeletal and soft tissues of chin in normal Korean adults

Abstract

The esthetics of chin contour is very important in facial deformities, and the quantity of soft tissue overlying the symphysis can be helpful to the correct diagnosis and surgical treatment for optimal facial harmony. The objectives of this study is to measure the different thicknesses of skeletal and soft tissues of chin on lateral cephalometric radiographs, to obtain the mean values of normal Korean adults, and to investigate the relative proportions of skeletal and soft tissues of chin. The results were as follows ; 1. In normal Korean adults, the relative proportions of the distances of soft tissue toward skeletal tissue were 1.5 in B point and 0.95 in Pg, and there were significant difference between male and female in the relative proportion of Pg (p<0.05). The relative proportion of the distances of vertical soft tissue toward horizontal soft tissue of Me was 1.91, and there were not significant difference between male and female. 2. In normal Korean adults, the distances of skeletal and soft tissues of chin showed no correlation, but the distances of vertical and horizontal soft tissues of Me showed high correlation (p<0.01). 3. In normal Korean adults, the correlations among the distances of each skeletal and soft tissues of chin were significantly high in both of male and female (p<0.01). Among the relative proportions of the distances of skeletal and soft tissues, the correlations of the proportions of B point and Mp and the proportions of Mp and Pg were significantly high (p<0.01).