Introduction:

The purpose of this study is to estimate cephalometric value averages in eight years old Mexican children residents in Mexico City and compare the information with foreign standards.

Methods:

Four mandibular values and twelve cephalometric measurements from McNamara analysis were determined from lateral head radiographs of 50 girls and 50 boys 8 years-old, with class I occlusion and with no orthodontic or orthopaedic treatment.

Results:

In the general aspect, boys presented bigger bone structures; girls presented wider upper and lower airway. There were statistically significant differences between boys and girls in: total mandibular length, mandibular corpus length, lower face height and chin anterior projection.

Conclusions:

The present study shows that there are significant cephalometric differences between eight years old boys and girls as well as between Italian, American and Mexican samples.

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