Background and Aims: The main purpose of orthodontic treatment is normal positioning of teeth in three dimensional plans, including the mesiodistal inclination. In this study, mesiodistal axial inclination of posterior teeth in skeletal class II was evaluated and compared with that of posterior teeth in skeletal class I.

Materials and Methods: Seventy-eight panoramic radiographs for subjects between 12 to 24 years old with skeletal class I and 78 panoramic radiographs for subjects between 12 to 19 years old with skeletal class II were selected. All of the subjects were in permanent dentition with no tooth missing, no tooth extraction, no impacted tooth, and no crowding in posterior teeth. Two reference lines were established over each radiograph: the upper one passing through the most inferior point of right and left orbits lower one passing through the right and left mental foramina. After that, the long axis of teeth was traced (the image of root canal in single-rooted teeth, mean image of buccal and palatal canals in upper premolars, mean image of mesial and distal canals in lower molars, and the image of palatal canal in upper molars.). The mean values for two skelotodental classes were analyzed using T-test.

Results: The results showed that there was significant difference between (P<0.05) mesiodistal axial inclination of teeth 15, 16, 17, 25, 26, and 27 in upper jaw in skeletal class II compared with that of the same teeth in skeletal class I, which was more mesially in skeletal class II. Mesiodistal axial inclination of teeth 36, 46, and 47 in lower jaw was more mesially in class II compared with that of the same teeth in class I. For other teeth there were no significant differences between two skeletodental classes (P>0.05).

Conclusion: The mesiodistal axial inclination of upper molars and second premolars and lower molars in class II was more mesially compared with that of the same teeth in class I.