Comparative evaluation of soft tissue changes in Class I borderline patients treated with extraction and nonextraction modalities

Abstract Objective: To compare soft tissue changes in Class I borderline cases treated with extraction and nonextraction modalities. Methods: A parent sample of 150 patients with Class I dental and skeletal malocclusion (89 patients treated with premolar extraction and 61 patients without extraction) was randomly selected and subjected to discriminant analysis which identified the borderline sample of 44 patients (22 extraction and 22 nonextraction patients). Pretreatment and post-treatment cephalograms of the borderline subsample were analyzed using 22 soft tissue parameters. Results: Upper and lower lips were more retracted and thickness of the upper lip increased more in the borderline extraction cases (p