Marco Garay Cerda; Gonzalo Muñoz Arias & Jorge Henríquez Pino

Craniofacial development is a complex process with several factors involved. When malocclusions have a skeletal origin, they can generate an orthognathic (class I), retrognathic (class II) or prognathic (class III) relationship of the mandibular bone respect to the maxilla. This configuration is closely related to the base of the skull where the sella turcica has been studied for this purpose due to its ectomesenchymal origin (Dasgupta et al., 2018) and its anatomical relationships. Several studies have been conducted to elucidate this relationship and this work seeks to contribute to the discussion by comparing the characteristics of the sella turcica among skeletal malocclusions through lateral teleradiographies. The study was conducted using 52 radiographic plates of individuals between 18 and 24 years old with an equal number of male and female subjects, 15 class I, 7 class II and 30 class III. The radiographic area of the sella turcica was digitally measured and morphologically classified using the categories of Axelsson et al. (2004). An intraclass correlation coefficient was obtained with 95 % confidence, yielding a value of 0.88 for the sella turcica area, 0.89 for the ANB angle and 0.70 for the Wits value, demonstrating excellent observer reliability. With 95 % confidence, Fisher's exact test showed a significant association (p = 0.029) between the morphological variations of the ST and the skeletal class, being more frequent in class III. The Kruskal Wallis H test did not show significant differences (p=0.550) in median sellar area between skeletal classes. Morphological variations seem to be more relevant than anatomical variations in this association. New studies are required in the Chilean population with a greater number of cases.

GARAY C. M.; MUÑOZ A. G. & HENRÍQUEZ P. J. Morphological and morphometric characteristics of the sella turcica according to skeletal class. Int. J. Morphol., 42(3):679-684, 2024.