{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,5]],"date-time":"2026-05-05T09:16:31Z","timestamp":1777972591119,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1777852800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Dentistry Journal"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background\/Objectives: This cross-sectional study aimed to estimate the Locally Estimated Scatterplot Smoothing (LOESS)-smoothed percentiles for growth trajectories and evaluate age-related tendencies across groups using visual cross-sectional graphs. Methods: A total of 1147 patient records were analyzed, including 648 females and 469 males aged 5\u201320 years, with a mean age of 11.9 (SD \u00b1 3.8) years. Twenty-seven cephalometric variables were organized into six measurement domains: cranial base, maxillary complex, mandibular complex, occlusal plane, vertical relationship, and sagittal relationship. Percentile curves were generated using LOESS regression across an age range of 5\u201320 years. Results: The LOESS-smoothed curves showed age-related trends across age groups. An upward trend in the curves was observed for the anterior and posterior cranial bases between 5 and 12 years of age, a plateau indicating reduced age-related change across groups during mid-adolescence. Maxillary measurements showed a similar pattern, with a clear upward tendency during childhood and reduced age-related change after approximately 12 years. Mandibular length and projection showed increasing trends during childhood, followed by a plateau or reduced slope across later age groups. The occlusal plane and vertical dimensions showed consistent patterns that approached a plateau around 12 years, indicating minimal age-related differences between groups. Changes in the ANB angle and Wits appraisal reflected a progressive forward tendency of the mandible across childhood age groups, followed by reduced age-related change during adolescence. Conclusions: These findings suggest that many craniofacial measurements show an upward trend during childhood followed by a plateau or reduced age-related change across age groups between approximately 12 and 14 years. The percentile-based growth curves presented here offer a practical reference for clinicians to evaluate craniofacial growth trajectories as population-level approximations derived from cross-sectional data in the pediatric population.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/dj14050269","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,5]],"date-time":"2026-05-05T07:57:29Z","timestamp":1777967849000},"page":"269","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["LOESS-Based Cephalometric Growth Curves for Clinical Assessment of Craniofacial Development: A Cross-Sectional Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6094-958X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Luis Pablo","family":"Cruz-Hervert","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Divisi\u00f3n de Estudios de Posgrado e Investigaci\u00f3n, Facultad de Odontolog\u00eda, Universidad Nacional Aut\u00f3noma de M\u00e9xico, Coyoacan, Ciudad de M\u00e9xico 04510, Mexico"},{"name":"Departamento de Epidemiolog\u00eda, Instituto Nacional de Cardiolog\u00eda Ignacio Ch\u00e1vez, Tlalpan, Ciudad de M\u00e9xico 14080, Mexico"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Luis","family":"Cruz-Ch\u00e1vez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Divisi\u00f3n de Estudios de Posgrado e Investigaci\u00f3n, Facultad de Odontolog\u00eda, Universidad Nacional Aut\u00f3noma de M\u00e9xico, Coyoacan, Ciudad de M\u00e9xico 04510, Mexico"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9464-1711","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jeta","family":"Kiseri-Kubati","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Orthodontic and Dentofacial Department, University for Business and Technology, Pristina 10000,  Kosovo"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0967-5616","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"\u00c1lvaro Edgar","family":"Gonz\u00e1lez-Arag\u00f3n Pineda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Facultad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala, Universidad Nacional Aut\u00f3noma de M\u00e9xico, Tlalnepantla, M\u00e9xico 54090, Mexico"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-2582-2136","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gerardo","family":"Mart\u00ednez-Su\u00e1rez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Facultad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala, Universidad Nacional Aut\u00f3noma de M\u00e9xico, Tlalnepantla, M\u00e9xico 54090, Mexico"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Carla Monserrat","family":"Ram\u00edrez-Mart\u00ednez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Divisi\u00f3n de Estudios de Posgrado e Investigaci\u00f3n, Facultad de Odontolog\u00eda, Universidad Nacional Aut\u00f3noma de M\u00e9xico, Coyoacan, Ciudad de M\u00e9xico 04510, Mexico"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4924-8616","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Socorro A\u00edda","family":"Borges-Ya\u00f1ez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Divisi\u00f3n de Estudios de Posgrado e Investigaci\u00f3n, Facultad de Odontolog\u00eda, Universidad Nacional Aut\u00f3noma de M\u00e9xico, Coyoacan, Ciudad de M\u00e9xico 04510, Mexico"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Juan Carlos","family":"Solorio-Quezada","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Escuela de Odontolog\u00eda, Universidad An\u00e1huac Campus Xalapa, Xalapa, Veracruz 91097, Mexico"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mar\u00eda Fernanda","family":"Trujillo-S\u00e1nchez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Departamento de Ortodoncia, Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores Le\u00f3n, Universidad Nacional Aut\u00f3noma de M\u00e9xico, Le\u00f3n, Guanajuato 37689, Mexico"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-8211-0445","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Silvia Paulina","family":"Mart\u00ednez-Contreras","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Especialidad de Ortodoncia, Universidad Cuauht\u00e9moc, San Luis Potos\u00ed, San Luis Potos\u00ed 78290, Mexico"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3804-9761","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mar\u00eda-Eugenia","family":"Jim\u00e9nez-Corona","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Divisi\u00f3n de Estudios de Posgrado e Investigaci\u00f3n, Facultad de Odontolog\u00eda, Universidad Nacional Aut\u00f3noma de M\u00e9xico, Coyoacan, Ciudad de M\u00e9xico 04510, Mexico"},{"name":"Departamento de Epidemiolog\u00eda, Instituto Nacional de Cardiolog\u00eda Ignacio Ch\u00e1vez, Tlalpan, Ciudad de M\u00e9xico 14080, Mexico"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0384-5581","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Luis Fernando","family":"Jacinto-Alem\u00e1n","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Divisi\u00f3n de Estudios de Posgrado e Investigaci\u00f3n, Facultad de Odontolog\u00eda, Universidad Nacional Aut\u00f3noma de M\u00e9xico, Coyoacan, Ciudad de M\u00e9xico 04510, Mexico"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"599","DOI":"10.1016\/0002-9416(79)90093-9","article-title":"The Inappropriateness of Conventional Cephalomettics","volume":"75","author":"Moyers","year":"1979","journal-title":"Am. 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