Introduction:

an incorrect plantar support can be considered an etiological factor of facial, mandibular and cranial asymmetries since it instantly modifies the relationship between the maxilla and mandible. Therefore, it is vital to identify the etiology of these asymmetries to establish accurate diagnoses and treatments.

Objective:

to determine the influence of plantar support on body posture and on facial, mandibular and cranial symmetries in adolescents.

Methods:

a descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out from January to September 2019 with 180 adolescents who were seen in the Orthodontics service at "Victoria de Santa Clara" Specialty Teaching Dental Clinic, who met the research selection criteria. Facial, postural and cephalometric variables were analyzed. Facial symmetry was determined through the analysis of facial lines, plantar support by means of cavity index, body posture according to the Di Rocca test, and mandibular symmetry with the modified method of Kurt and Uysal. Ethical standards were followed and Fisher's and McNemar's tests as well as clustering technique were applied.

Results:

adolescents with asymmetric plantar support and varus feet predominated. The 72.53% had asymmetric plantar support from the total cases with facial asymmetry, and 39.44% had unbalanced and divergent biiliac and biclavicular planes. Mandibular asymmetry was observed in 56.11%, mostly with asymmetric plantar support.

Conclusions:

the influence of plantar support on body posture and on facial, mandibular and cranial symmetries was posible to verify since a high degree of relationship was observed among the variables studied.