Dental Arch Dimensions in Ghanaian patients with Sickle Cell Anaemia

Abstract

Background: Sickle Cell Anaemia (SCA) presents with multisystemic complications which may include dentofacial
effects. Dental arch dimension variations have been demonstrated to occur in some chronic haematological diseases and
may also occur in SCA.
The aim of this study is to determine the average dental arch dimension in Ghanaian patients with SCA and compare the
findings with those from haematologically healthy individuals.
Methods: The study involved 120 participants comprising 60 individuals with SCA and 60 age and sex-matched
haematologically healthy individuals without SCA(controls). Each consisted of 30 males and 30 females aged between 18
and 35 years with a mean age of 25.29 ± 5.32 years. Measurements of dental arch dimensions were made directly on the
dental study casts using a digital sliding caliper . Differences in dental arch dimensions between patients with SCA and
controls were determined using the Two sample t-test for unpaired data. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05.
Results: An assessment of dental arch dimension revealed that the mandibular arch depth of patients with SCA
(25.18±2.17mm) was significantly smaller than those in the controls (25.92±1.74mm) (p=0.04). Additionally, the
mandibular arch length of patients with SCA(69.13±4.89mm) was reduced compared to controls (70.90±4.19mm) (p=0.03).
Individuals with SCA generally demonstrated smaller means for other parameters assessed, but these differences were not
statistically significant.
Conclusion: This study demonstrated the differences in arch diameter parameters between patients with SCA and the
haematologically healthy controls and this must be taken into consideration during orthodontic diagnosis and treatment
planning for affected individuals