Sella Turcica Bridging As A Predictor Of Class II Malocclusion-An Investigative Study.

BACKGROUND: Sella turcica, the bony depression located in sphenoid bone houses and protects the pituitary gland. Formation and development of the sella turcica and teeth share, in common, the involvement of neural crest cells. The anterior part of the sella turcica is believed to develop mainly from neural crest cells, and dental epithelial progenitor cells differentiate through sequential and reciprocal interaction with neural crest-derived mesenchyme. Thus, any structural deviations in the sella, like bridging or roofing, are believed to be related to specific deviations in the facial skeleton and dental anomalies. Until now, there have been no studies concerning the prevalence of sella turcica bridging in skeletal Class II subjects.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to analyse the prevalence of sella turcica bridging in subjects with class I and class II skeletal types and to check whether sella can be considered as diagnostic marker for skeletal class II malocclusion.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Lateral cephalometric images of 205 subjects in the age range of 13 to 25 years were retrospectively analysed and classified for the type of skeletal malocclusion and the radiographs were evaluated for the prevalence of bridging of the sella in these subjects.

RESULTS: The results show significance in the prevalence of sella turcica bridging (partial/complete) among subjects with skeletal class II malocclusion.