Mandibular Posterior Anatomic Limit For Molar
Mandibular Posterior Anatomic Limit For Molar
Mandibular Posterior Anatomic Limit For Molar
Introduction: The purpose of this study was to investigate the mandibular posterior anatomic limit for molar dis-
talization. Methods: Three-dimensional computed tomography scans were obtained on 34 adults with a skeletal
Class I normodivergent facial profile and a normal occlusion. Posterior available space was measured at the
crown and root levels along the posterior occlusal line connecting the buccal cusps of the first and second molars
on the axial slices. It was also measured at the occlusal level on the lateral cephalograms derived from the
computed tomography scans. The measurements on the cephalograms were used to predict the actual posterior
available space determined by computed tomography and to determine the presence of root contact with the
inner lingual cortex by linear regression and discriminant analyses, respectively. Results: The posterior avail-
able space was significantly smaller at the root level than at the crown level. Root contact was observed in
35.3% of the 68 roots. The posterior available space measured on the lateral cephalograms resulted in a regres-
sion equation with a coefficient of determination of 0.261 to predict actual available space and correctly identified
root contact in 66.2% of cases with a threshold value of 3.9 mm. Conclusions: The posterior anatomic limit ap-
peared to be the lingual cortex of the mandibular body. Computed tomography scans are recommended for pa-
tients who require significant mandibular molar distalization. (Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop 2014;146:190-7)
M
olar distalization is a nonextraction treatment Previous studies regarding the retromolar region have
modality used to correct Class II or Class III focused on the posterior available space observed on
molar relationships1,2 and to relieve crowding panoramic radiographs or lateral cephalograms to calcu-
without adverse arch expansion, which can jeopardize late the posterior space discrepancy or to predict the
both esthetics and stability.3,4 Recently, its clinical prognosis of third molar eruption.7-13 In most of these
significance has increased because of the introduction studies, the anterior border of the ramus was presumed
of temporary anchorage devices in orthodontic to be the posterior limit of the mandibular arch, and
treatment; these enable predictable molar distalization the available space was measured along the occlusal
with minimal patient compliance.5,6 Regardless of the plane.7,8,11-13 However, these 2-dimensional radio-
anchorage unit used for distalization, however, there is graphs have inherent sources of error, such as differential
a posterior anatomic limit beyond which orthodontic magnification and distortion, and also they are projected
tooth movement can barely be achieved. Although the images that cannot represent the 3-dimensional (3D)
maxillary arch has a clear posterior limit—the maxillary morphology of the mandibular ramus.14
tuberosity—the limit for the mandibular arch is not Another issue that has received little attention to date
yet clear. is the limitation to the alveolar bone housing for posterior
teeth caused by the inner and outer lingual cortexes of
the mandibular body. With regard to alveolar bone hous-
From the Department of Orthodontics, School of Dentistry, Yonsei University,
Seoul, Korea. ing, it has been suggested that teeth should be moved
a
Lecturer. within the boundaries of cortical bones15 to form an “en-
b
Professor. velope of discrepancy,” which describes mainly incisor
All authors have completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of
Potential Conflicts of Interest, and none were reported. movement in the sagittal plane and molar movement in
Supported by a faculty research grant of Yonsei University College of Dentistry the coronal plane.16 However, little is known about the
(6-2013-0090). alveolar bone housing for the distalization of the
Address correspondence to: Kee-Joon Lee, Department of Orthodontics, School
of Dentistry, Yonsei University, 50-1 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-752, mandibular molar, which might determine the posterior
South Korea; e-mail, orthojn@yuhs.ac. limit. This is possibly due to the lack of an appropriate
Submitted, January 2014; revised and accepted, April 2014. diagnostic tool and the difficulty in anchorage prepara-
0889-5406/$36.00
Copyright Ó 2014 by the American Association of Orthodontists. tion for mandibular molar distalization before the intro-
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajodo.2014.04.021 duction of temporary anchorage devices to orthodontics.
190
Kim et al 191
American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics August 2014 Vol 146 Issue 2
192 Kim et al
Fig 2. A, Axial slice at occlusal level: a, posterior available space measured at occlusal level; dotted
red line, posterior occlusal line connecting buccal cusps of the mandibular first and second molars.
B, Axial slice at root level. C, Close-up view of the white box in B; b, distance to the inner lingual cortex;
c, distance to the outer lingual cortex.
Statistical analysis
All measurements were performed twice, by the same
examiner (S.-J.K.), 2 weeks apart. The paired t test was
conducted to verify the reproducibility of the measure-
ments. The Dahlberg21 formula was used to calculate
method errors: Se 5 O(d2/2n), where d is the difference be-
tween measurements, and n is the number of pairs of mea-
surements. Since the paired t test showed no statistically
significant difference between the measurements of the
left and right sides, the averaged measurements were used.
To investigate the influence of the third molar on the
posterior available space, the 34 patients were divided
into 2 groups according to the presence of the mandibular
third molar: a third-molar group (n 5 23), in which both
mandibular third molars were present, and a nonthird-
molar group (n 5 11), in which both third molars were ex-
tracted or congenitally missing. Since the 2-sample t test
showed no significant differences between the 2 groups
for any measurement, subsequent statistical analyses
were performed on the whole sample, using SPSS for Win-
dows (version 18.0; SPSS, Chicago, Ill). One-way analysis Fig 3. Right half-skull cephalogram generated with paral-
of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey post-hoc tests were per- lel projection. Dotted red line, Mandibular occlusal plane;
formed to compare the measurements. The Pearson cor- yellow line, posterior available space.
relation analysis was used to investigate correlations
between CephOL and CRs/RLs. Simple linear regression of the 34 patients were divided into 2 groups: a contact
analysis was performed using RLin-10mm as the dependent group, in which the root was in contact with the lingual
variable and CephOL as the independent variable. cortex on at least 1 level, and a noncontact group, in
To perform a discriminant analysis with CephOL as a which the root was not in contact on any level. The
predictive variable, the 68 mandibular second molars 2-sample t test was performed to compare CephOL
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Kim et al 193
Table II. Distance between the mandibular second molar and the anterior border of the ramus/outer lingual cortex of
the mandibular body (1-way ANOVA and Tukey post-hoc tests)
Between the crown and the anterior border of the ramus Between the root and the outer lingual cortex of the mandible
between these 2 groups. An unstandardized canonic and RLs (r 5 0.512-0.676) (Table IV). Since RLin-10mm
discriminant function coefficient was calculated with a was the smallest value among the RLin values, although
constant for CephOL, leading to an equation that assigns it was not significantly different from RLin-6mm and
a score to each patient. The group centroid (mean score RLin-8mm, and was considered to determine the clinical
for each group) was calculated, after which the critical amount of molar distalization, simple linear regression
score (mean value of the 2 group centroids) was calcu- analysis was performed to predict RLin-10mm with Ce-
lated. Since there was 1 predictive variable, the threshold phOL. This resulted in the following regression model,
value of CephOL was calculated. Last, the classification which was statistically significant (P \0.01) (Table V).
value of CephOL was tested.
RLin10mm 5 ð0:7153CephOL Þ 0:220
RESULTS With regard to root contact with the inner lingual
cortex, the percentage of root contact increased as the
The paired t test showed no statistically significant
level became closer to the root apex, reaching 32.8%
difference between the measurements performed
at the 10-mm level apical to the cementoenamel junc-
2 weeks apart. The method errors ranged from 0.44 to
tion (Table VI). Of the total roots, 35.3% were in contact
1.48 mm. When the posterior available space at the
on at least 1 level, and these were assigned to the contact
crown level as measured on the CT-derived lateral ceph-
group (n 5 24). The rest of the roots were assigned to the
alograms was compared with that measured on the axial
noncontact group (n 5 48). When CephOL was compared
slices, CephOL was significantly smaller than CROL and
between the 2 groups, it was significantly smaller in the
CR2mm (P \0.05), indicating that the lateral cephalo-
contact group (P \0.01) (Table VII). Discriminant anal-
grams understated the available space distal to the
ysis yielded an unstandardized discriminant function
mandibular second molars (Table II).
coefficient of CephOL and a calculated constant
When comparing the distance to the outer cortex at
(Table VIII), facilitating the following equation that pro-
the crown and root levels on the axial slice (CRs and
vides an individual score for assigning a new patient to
RLouts), CROL and CR2mm were significantly larger than
the contact or the noncontact group.
RLout-8mm and RLout-10mm (P \0.05). This indicated
that that the outer lingual cortex of the mandibular Individual score50:5723ðCephOL Þ 2:362
body, not the anterior border of the ramus, was the pos- The critical score was 0.131, and the threshold
terior anatomic limit when the molar was distalized value of CephOL was 3.900, indicating that a new
along the POL. In addition, RLout-10mm was smaller mandibular second molar with a CephOL lower than
than RLout-2mm and RLout-4mm, indicating that the avail- 3.9 mm is likely to have a root that is in contact with
able space decreased as the level of the measurements the inner lingual cortex. The percentage of correctly
became closer to the root apex (Table II, Fig 4). With re- classified cases was 66.2% (Table IX).
gard to the distance to the inner cortex at root levels,
RLin-2mm and RLin-4mm were also significantly smaller
than RLin-8mm and RLin-10mm, indicating that similar to DISCUSSION
the outer lingual cortex, the space was smaller at the Anatomic limits for orthodontic tooth movement can
root apex (Table III, Fig 4). be divided into 2 types according to level: crown level
In terms of the correlation between the distances and root level. At crown level, the only anatomic struc-
measured on the CT-derived lateral cephalograms and ture that can be encountered during orthodontic tooth
those measured on the axial slices, CephOL exhibited movement is the mandibular ramus, which is related to
moderate statistically significant correlations with CRs the distalization of mandibular molars. When the crown
American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics August 2014 Vol 146 Issue 2
194 Kim et al
Fig 4. Graph of the posterior available space at each level of measurement. Blue, Distance to the outer
lingual cortex; red, distance to the inner lingual cortex; OL, occlusal level; CEJ, cementoenamel junction.
Table III. Distance between the mandibular second molar root and the inner lingual cortex of the mandibular body
(1-way ANOVA and Tukey post-hoc tests)
RLin-2mm (n 5 34) RLin-4mm (n 5 34) RLin-6mm (n 5 34) RLin-8mm (n 5 34) RLin-10mm (n 5 32) P value
Mean 6.10a 5.87b 4.70c 3.67d 2.77e \0.001
SD 3.13 3.36 3.17 2.84 2.42
Post-hoc Tukey test (P \0.05)
a .d,e b .d,e - d \a,b e \a,b
Table IV. Correlations between the measurements on the lateral cephalograms and the axial CT slices with Pearson
correlation analysis
Correlation
coefficient
(P value) CROL CR2mm RLin-2mm RLout-2mm RLin-4mm RLout-4mm RLin-6mm RLout-6mm RLin-8mm RLout-8mm RLin-10mm RLout-10mm
CephOL 0.676y 0.639y 0.569y 0.556* 0.589y 0.557* 0.578y 0.570y 0.512* 0.574y 0.534* 0.633y
\0.001 \0.001 \0.001 0.001 \0.001 0.001 \0.001 \0.001 0.002 \0.001 0.002 \0.001
*P \0.01; yP \0.001.
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Kim et al 195
Table VI. Numbers and percentages of root contacts with the inner lingual cortex of the mandible
2-mm level from 4-mm level from 6-mm level from 8-mm level from CEJ 10-mm level from CEJ
CEJ (n 5 68) CEJ (n 5 68) CEJ (n 5 68) (n 5 68) (n 5 64) Any levels (n 5 68)
Number 0 2 5 12 21 24
Percentage (%) 0 2.9 7.4 17.6 32.8 35.3
CEJ, Cementoenamel junction.
American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics August 2014 Vol 146 Issue 2
196 Kim et al
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