Anthropometric Evaluations of the Condylar Heads of Mandibles in the Nigerians

Abstract

BACKGROUND: A variation of normal Condylar head morphology and morphometry occurs with age, gender, race, and between right and left sides. We aimed therefore to determine the morphologic and morphometric parameters of condylar heads in different age group and to determine the possible variations males and females.
METHODS: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study that recruited surgical wet mandible stored in the stored in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Benin Teaching Hospital from 1999 to 2019. Data were collected and analysed descriptively and statistically. A P-Value greater than 0.05 was considered significant.
RESULTS: A total of 101 formalin-preserve human mandibular condyles were sampled. The mean age (SD) of the patients recruited was 43.9(11.2) years with age range between 21 and 70 years. The males recruited were 58(57.4%) while the females were 43(42.2%). The most prevalent anterior, superior and lateral view shapes were round (60.4%), oblong (62.4%) and round (62.4%) shapes respectively. The mean values for CHW, CHL and CHH were 1.92 mm, 8.51mm and 4.23mm respectively. The relationship between gender and morphometric parameters was only statistically significant (P<0.05).
CONCLUSION: Fabrication of condylar prosthesis with this anatomical parameters will eliminate the problems of ill-fitting prosthesis thereby reducing complications.