Visual acuity, safe/unsafe practices and self-reported road traffic crash experiences among commuter bus drivers from two motor parks in Lagos, Nigeria.

Background: The sella turcica is an important anatomical landmark and reference point in orthodontics with many studies identifying shape and morphology for different populations. The aim of this study was to evaluate sella turcica shapes in skeletal classes I, II and III orthodontic patients in Benin City, Nigeria.

Study Design: This study was carried out at the Orthodontic Unit of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria. Standardized digital pre-treatment lateral cephalometric radiographs of 139 patients (65 male and 74 female; aged 7-30 years) were analyzed according to the skeletal class each of them belonged to. The sella turcica of each radiograph was traced to determine the shape. The chi square and student t-test was used to determine statistical significances between frequencies and association between variables.

Results: There was a normal morphology of the sella turcica in the majority (64%) of subjects and a variation of 5 other shapes in the remaining 36% of patients seen. Skeletal class II was the most predominant skeletal class and was seen in 50.4% of the study population. A normal shaped sella turcica was seen in 58.4% of subjects with skeletal class II pattern. Irregular dorsum sella and a pyramidal shape were observed in 57.1% of subjects with skeletal class I pattern. Skeletal Class III was most predominant with an Irregular dorsum sella in 28.6%.The gender distribution in a normal sella turcica shape was seen with females and males demonstrating 53.9% and 46.1% respectively.

Conclusion: Sella turcica shapes vary in the three skeletal patterns in orthodontic patients in Benin City, Nigeria.