[A comparative study of the transverse dimensions of the dental arches between Class I dental occlusion and Class II1 and Class II2 malocclusions].

The purpose of this work was to compare transverse dimensions of the maxillary and mandibular arches in the canine and molar region between three groups of patients: the first group had an occlusion in class II division 1, the second one a dental class II division 2 and the third one, a class I bite. Our sample is composed of 94 patients, with an average age of 20 +/- 3 years: 31 patients presented a class I occlusion, 33 a class III1 and 30 cases presented a dental class II2. For this study, we measured, on the maxillary and mandibular dental casts of each patient, the intercanine and intermolar canine (central inter fossa). Comparison of variables was conducted using the variance analysis ANOVA; the selected post-hoc test is the Bonferrroni test. On the basis of our study, we can get the following results: Maxillary intercanine distance is narrower in class II1 compared to class II2 of 2 mm "p < 0.05". Mandibular intercanine distance is narrower in class III1 compared to class II2 of 1, 3 mm "p < 0.05". Maxillary intermolar distance (inter fossa) is narrower in class II1 compared to class I of 2, 2 mm "p < 0.05".