Incisor position and alveolar bone thickness.

Objectives: To evaluate incisor position and its relationship to alveolar bone in untreated optimal occlusions and in untreated Class II malocclusions.

Materials and methods: Fifty-seven lateral cephalograms of individuals with naturally occurring optimal occlusions (mean age = 23 years) were used to assess positions of central incisors and their relationships to alveolar bone. Data were compared to a sample of 57 individuals with untreated Class II malocclusions with concurrent anterior-posterior (AP) skeletal discrepancies (mean age = 16.9 years).

Results: Significant intergroup differences were found for AP jaw relationship, maxillary alveolar bone thickness, mandibular incisor inclination, maxillary incisor root distance to labial surface of alveolar bone, and mandibular incisor root apex distance to labial surface of alveolar bone. Small differences between females and males existed for several variables. In both samples, maxillary incisor roots were located closer to the labial surface of alveolar process than to the palatal surface by roughly a 2:1 ratio. Mandibular incisor root apices were generally equidistant from the labial and lingual surfaces of the alveolus in the optimal sample but closer to the lingual surface in the Class II sample.

Conclusions: Maxillary incisors tend to occupy the anterior one-third of the alveolus in untreated individuals, regardless of AP interarch dental relationships or AP jaw relationships. Mandibular incisor root apices tend to be centered within the alveolus in untreated optimal occlusions but are more positively inclined, and their root apices are more posterior in untreated Class II malocclusions.