## 4 Discussion  
Knowledge of the relationship between the cranial base morphology and different skeletal patterns could be of great importance for orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning [19; 20]. As recently described in the literature, previous studies used 2D cephalometric radiographs to estimate the relationship between the cranial base and malocclusion [7; 11]. Therefore, our study utilized 3D analysis to overcome the limitations of the 2D image (such \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**The Relationship between Gender, Age, and Cranial Base Measurements** & **Independent** & **Adjusted Odd** & **95\% CI for AOR** & **\(p\) Value** \\  & **Variable** & **Ratio (AOR)** & **Lower** & **Upper** & \(p\) Value** \\ \hline S-N (mm), Cut point (mean) \(\leq\) 66.43 & Female vs. Male & 3.75 & 1.82 & 7.74 & 0.0003 ** \\  & & Age & 1.01 & 0.98 & 1.04 & 0.664 \\ \hline S-Ba (mm), Cut point (mean) \(\leq\) 42.97 & Female vs. Male & 4.48 & 2.13 & 9.39 & \textless{}0.001 ** \\  & & Age & 0.98 & 0.95 & 1.01 & 0.207 \\ \hline N-Ba (mm), Cut point (mean) \(\leq\) 109.40 & Female vs. Male & 7.55 & 3.48 & 16.39 & \textless{}0.0001 ** \\  & & Age & 0.99 & 0.96 & 1.02 & 0.657 \\ \hline N-S-Ba (\({}^{\circ}\)), Cut point (mean) \(\leq\) 129.52 & Female vs. Male & 0.60 & 0.30 & 1.21 & 0.155 \\  & & Age & 0.98 & 0.95 & 1.01 & 0.135 \\ \hline \hline \multicolumn{6}{c}{**\(p\leq 0.001\).**} \\ \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 6: Logistic regression model demonstrating the relationship between gender, age, and cranial base measurements. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**Gender** & **N** & **Cephalometric Landmarks** & **Mean** & **Standard Deviation** \\ \hline \multirow{8}{*}{Female} & \multirow{8}{*}{72.00} & S-N (mm) & 65.11 & 2.65 \\  & & S-Ba (mm) & 41.83 & 2.56 \\  & & N-Ba (mm) & 106.94 & 3.58 \\  & & N-S-Ba (\({}^{\circ}\)) & 130.79 & 7.00 \\  & & Bieuryon width (mm) & 136.53 & 6.23 \\  & & JR-JL (mm) & 58.22 & 4.07 \\  & & Go (r)-Go (l) (mm) & 88.09 & 5.83 \\  & & Ag (r)-Ag (l) (mm) & 85.01 & 5.39 \\ \hline \multirow{8}{*}{Male} & \multirow{8}{*}{58.00} & S-N (mm) & 68.02 & 3.66 \\  & & S-Ba (mm) & 44.35 & 3.46 \\ \cline{1-1}  & & N-Ba (mm) & 112.36 & 5.68 \\ \cline{1-1}  & & N-S-Ba (\({}^{\circ}\)) & 128.00 & 5.73 \\ \cline{1-1}  & & Bieuryon width (mm) & 139.74 & 7.02 \\ \cline{1-1}  & & JR-JL (mm) & 60.37 & 5.28 \\ \cline{1-1}  & & Go (r)-Go (l) (mm) & 95.79 & 6.59 \\ \cline{1-1}  & & Ag (r)-Ag (l) (mm) & 91.66 & 5.82 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 5: The cephalometric values for both genders. as tissue superimposition) and obtain a more accurate reading [11; 21]. In addition, unlike most previous studies that have only compared one or two malocclusion classes with the cranial base morphology [15; 22], the current study provided a piece of new information by comparing all three skeletal malocclusions with cranial base dimensions. The majority of human skull growth and morphological maturation of the cranial base, maxilla, and mandible would predominantly take place before the age of 18 years [23; 24; 25; 26; 27]. Accordingly, the criteria for selection of the subjects were limited to subjects who passed the pubertal growth spurt (18 years of age and older) since, by then, most of the growth changes have been attained [23; 24; 25; 26; 27]. In addition, our study included subjects from Saudi Arabia to eliminate ethnic variations and genetic differences. Moreover, subjects with previous jaw pathology, previous trauma, congenital anomalies, and previous orthodontic and orthognathic treatment were excluded as they might have altered cranial base dimensions, changed maxillomandibular relationships, and unclear landmarks. Our findings showed gender differences between the three skeletal groups. In the study sample, 61.11% of female subjects were associated with skeletal class II, and 51.66% of male subjects were associated with skeletal class I. However, previous studies found no gender differences in skeletal relationships [28; 29; 30].