A longitudinal study of dental arch morphology in children with the syndrome of Crouzon or Apert

The aim of this study was to compare changes in dental arch morphology between patients with Crouzon syndrome or Apert syndrome and controls. Children between 4 and 14yr of age with Crouzon syndrome (n=40) or Apert syndrome (n=28) were compared with non-syndromic controls (n=457) in terms of arch widths, depths, and length dimensions. Multilevel statistical modeling techniques were used to evaluate changes over time. Dental arch dimensions were found to be smaller in patients with Crouzon syndrome or Apert syndrome compared with control subjects. Maxillary intercanine width for patients with Apert syndrome were increased, whilst other arch width variables showed no change. Patients with Crouzon syndrome showed increases in maxillary intercanine width, whilst intermolar width showed no change over time. Dental arch dimensions in syndromic patients were thus found to be consistently smaller than in control subjects between 4 and 14yr of age, implying that patients with Crouzon syndrome and Apert syndrome had a diminished growth potential.