The South Indian population is rich in ethnicity and cultural diversity, and craniofacial growth and malocclusion is influenced by racial, ethnic, sexual, and dietary differences. Therefore the need of standard norms for the local population is fundamental in the evaluation and diagnosis of craniofacial abnormalities. The study was aimed to assess the reliability of Schwarz analysis in measuring mandibular length for the South Indian population. This was a retrospective study evaluating lateral cephalograms of 100 orthodontic patients. The sample was divided into four groups based on age and gender. Anterior cranial base length and mandibular body length were measured digitally using FACAD software. Calculated mandibular body length was derived using the formula from Schwarz analysis. Wilcoxon signed-rank test was done to compare the significance of calculated mandibular body length and actual mandibular body length for the overall sample as well as the four groups. P-value was set as 0.05. There was no statistical significant difference between the calculated mandibular length and the actual mandibular length in males of all age groups and adult females (p-value > 0.05) whereas significant difference was noted in growing females (p-value < 0.001). Within the limitations of the present study, Schwarz analysis is reliable for measuring mandibular body length in males of all age groups and females of non-growing age groups. The analysis should be used with caution in growing females in the South Indian population.
