Evaluation of soft palate morphology and need’s ratio in patients with skeletal class i and class ii with different growth patterns

Aim and objective: The study was aimed to evaluate the soft palate morphology and need’s ratio in skeletal class I and class II subjects with various growth patterns. Materials and methods: The study was conducted on 240 subjects (aged 15-25 years) who presented to the department of orthodontics for orthodontic treatment. The subjects were divided into skeletal class I and class II which were further subdivided into hypodivergent, norm divergent and hyperdivergent growers. The soft palate morphology was examined and subjects were divided into 6 types. Need’s ratio was calculated by division of pharyngeal depth by soft palate length. The results were then subjected to statistical analysis to evaluate the variation in need’s ratio in patients with skeletal class I and class II with various growth patterns. Results: The most common type of soft palate was leaf shaped. Patients with skeletal class I were most frequently found to have leaf shaped and skeletal class II subjects had rat tail shape soft palate as the most common, irrespective of growth pattern. Need’s ratios were the lowest in hyperdivergent growth pattern in both skeletal class I and class II subjects. There were significant differences in need’s ratio of hypodivergent and hyperdivergent growers of both sagittal malocclusions. Conclusion: The need’s ratio showed a statistically significant difference among hyperdivergent and hypodivergent growth patterns of class I and class II subjects. The knowledge of morphological variants of soft palate help the clinician in etiological study of OSAS, snoring and other conditions.