Morphometric covariation between palatal shape and skeletal pattern in children and adolescents: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: To assess shape covariation of the palate and craniofacial complex (CFC) in children and adolescents.

Methods: Pre-treatment lateral cephalometric radiographs and corresponding maxillary casts of 100 children (8-10 years) and 100 adolescents (15-20 years) were digitized. Exclusion criteria were previous orthodontic treatment, craniofacial syndromes, mouth breathing, finger sucking, crossbite, tooth agenesis, and tooth impaction.