Sagittal and vertical occlusal cephalometric analyses of Pancherz: Norms for Chinese children

Introduction The aims of this research were to establish norms for the sagittal and vertical occlusal cephalometric analyses of Pancherz for Chinese children and compare them with those of a matched white sample. Methods The material comprised lateral cephalograms of a random sample of 405 southern Chinese children (age, 12 years; 200 boys, 205 girls) and an additional sample of 86 British white children (age, 12 years; 43 boys, 43 girls) in Hong Kong. The radiographs were digitized twice. Results Statistically significant sex differences were found for 9 of 11 parameters in the sagittal occlusal analysis, and 6 of 10 in the vertical occlusal analysis in the Chinese sample, whereas there were no sex differences in the sagittal occlusal analysis and only 2 differences in the vertical occlusal analysis in the white sample. Statistically significant ethnic differences were found for 5 parameters in boys and 8 in girls of the 11 parameters in the sagittal analysis. For the vertical analysis, 7 of 10 parameters in both sexes differed significantly. Conclusions For the sagittal and vertical occlusal analyses of Pancherz, separate sex-specific standards are needed for Chinese and white children.