A comparison of cephalometric norms for the African Bantu and a caucasoid population

Cephalometric standards are established and compared for 40 young Cameroonian Africans and 40 White French students of similar ages, all of whom had perfect Class I occlusion and none of whom had orthodontic treatment. A factorial analysis of correlation was undertaken to detect the main discriminant factors in the two groups. The position and the angulation of the incisors appeared to be the strongest discriminant factors. Higher values for convexity, ANB angle, SNB angle and lower face height were representative racial characters in the Bantu: Upper face height and facial taper were dominant traits in whites.