Dental malocclusions are not just about small and weak bones: assessing the morphology of the mandible with cross-section analysis and geometric morphometrics.

Objectives: Dental malocclusions in modern populations would be the result of small and weak jaws developing under low masticatory loads. We assess the validity of this by characterising the external and internal morphology of mandibles affected by class II and III malocclusions and comparing them with those from individuals with different masticatory load patterns.

Materials And Methods: CTs from up to 118 individuals exerting intensive, medium and low masticatory loads with harmonic occlusion, and from class II and III individuals, were used to compare their external shape using geometric morphometrics, as well as their internal amount and distribution of cortical bone.