Cephalometric deviations present in children and adolescents with temporomandibular joint disorders

introduction: temporomandibular disorders (tmd) have proved to be a risk factor for developing hyperdivergent facial growth patterns. objective: the aims of this study were: (1) assess differences between the cephalometric measurements in children with articular tmd and a control group, before and after mandibular growth peak according to cervical vertebral maturation; and (2) identify a predictive model capable of differentiating patients with tmd and control group patients based on early cephalometric characteristics. method: the study included children and adolescents with maximum age of 17 years, divided into experimental group (n=30) diagnosed with articular tmd-according to the research diagnostic criteria for temporomandibular disorders (rdc/tmd) for children and adolescents-subdivided according to growth stage, called pre-peak (n=17) and post-peak (n=13) and control group (n = 30), matched by gender, skeletal maturity stage of the cervical vertebrae and classification of malocclusion. lateral cephalometric and craniofacial structures were traced and their relations divided into: cranial base, maxilla, mandible, intermaxillary relations, vertical skeletal relations and dental relations. differences between the means for each variable were evaluated by applying the statistical student t test for independent samples. results: the means of the variables analyzed in the pre-peak showed no statistically significant differences. however, analysis of post-peak showed that the experimental group displayed decreased sna and snb and increased sn.gn and 1.nb (p<0.05). conclusion: it was possible to identify a predictive model able to differentiate patients with tmd and asymptomatic controls from early cephalometric characteristics.