@article{eprints1195,
         journal = {Orthodontics and Craniofacial Research},
            year = {2011},
          author = {Pietro Auconi and Guido Caldarelli and Antonio Scala and Gaetano Ierardo and Antonella Polimeni},
           title = {A network approach to orthodontic diagnosis},
          volume = {14},
          number = {4},
           month = {October},
       publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell},
           pages = {189--197},
             url = {http://eprints.imtlucca.it/1195/},
        keywords = {class II and class III malocclusions; craniofacial topology; network analysis},
        abstract = {Background ?  Network analysis, a recent advancement in complexity science, enables understanding of the properties of complex biological processes characterized by the interaction, adaptive regulation, and coordination of a large number of participating components.
Objective ?  We applied network analysis to orthodontics to detect and visualize the most interconnected clinical, radiographic, and functional data pertaining to the orofacial system.
Materials and Methods ?  The sample consisted of 104 individuals from 7 to 13 years of age in the mixed dentition phase without previous orthodontic intervention. The subjects were divided according to skeletal class; their clinical, radiographic, and functional features were represented as vertices (nodes) and links (edges) connecting them.
Results ?  Class II subjects exhibited few highly connected orthodontic features (hubs), while Class III patients showed a more compact network structure characterized by strong co-occurrence of normal and abnormal clinical, functional, and radiological features. Restricting our analysis to the highest correlations, we identified critical peculiarities of Class II and Class III malocclusions.
Conclusions ?  The topology of the dentofacial system obtained by network analysis could allow orthodontists to visually evaluate and anticipate the co-occurrence of auxological anomalies during individual craniofacial growth and possibly localize reactive sites for a therapeutic approach to malocclusion.}
}