A morphometric anthropometric analysis of the upper lip in adult Western Romanian population- a retrospective study

Craniofacial reconstruction and facial approximations are valuable resources in the fields of anthropometry, forensics and surgery. Their accuracy depends on the availability of population specific datasets and consistent research and focus on improving and updating these datasets over time. Our study focuses on bringing new normative data regarding the relationship between the upper lip and the upper anterior teeth in a sample of adult Western Romanian population. This retrospective study was conducted on 226 computed tomography scans from the existing patient database of the Emergency Municipal Hospital of Timisoara, being the first study of this kind to focus on the Romanian population. The patients were divided in six subgroups depending on age and sex. A total of ten landmarks were considered, eight in the frontal plane and two in the sagittal plane, five hard tissue and five soft tissue. The 3D Slicer free, open-source software was used for the analysis. The inter-landmark distances were measured and results were compared. The results of the present study show similar patterns of associations between the measured inter-landmark distances for men and women. According to the measurements, inter-landmark distances are larger in males, compared to females, in all age groups. The strong correlation between right and left inter-landmark distances demonstrates the obvious right-left symmetry of most cases. A positive association was found between the skeletal and soft tissue contour of the maxilla, specifically, between the upper anterior teeth and the upper lip.