This study evaluated the alveolar bone thickness (ABT) of the mandibular incisors in Thais with different
vertical skeletal patterns. One hundred and thirty-five patients (average age 24.2 years) were divided into three
groups according to their vertical skeletal pattern (i.e. skeletal deepbite, skeletal normal bite, and skeletal openbite).
The labial and lingual ABTs of the mandibular incisors at 3 mm (cervical level) and 6 mm (mid-root level) apical to
the cemento-enamel junction (CEJ) and at the root apices (apical level) were measured from cone-beam computed
tomography images. One-way ANOVA was used to determine the differences in ABT between the groups at a 0.05
significance level. There were the differences in ABT between the three groups (p<0.001), with the greatest difference
seen between the skeletal deepbite and openbite patients. The skeletal deepbite patients had the significantly
thickest labial and lingual alveolar bones of the mandibular incisors followed by the skeletal normal bite and
skeletal openbite patients, which were also significantly different from each other, at the lingual mid-root and total
apical ABT. In conclusion, considering the alveolar bone as the boundary for tooth movement, greater movement
of the mandibular incisors in an antero-posterior direction can be performed in skeletal deepbite patients, while
skeletal openbite can undergo the least movement, mainly at the lingual mid-root and root apex levels.