Introduction: Orthodontic diagnosis is fundamental to analysing the functional, economic, esthetic needs of each patient for a successful treatment.

Objective: To analyze the literature about the study of facial growth, morphological anomalies, malocclusions and the evaluation of the possible results of orthodontic treatment, through the analysis of Ricketts, McNamara, Steiner, Jarabak.

Methodology: PubMed, SCOPUS and Google Scholar databases were reviewed to find recent articles published on cephalometric with the following keywords "Cephalometric", "Orthodontics", "Ricketts", "McNamara", "Steiner", “Jarabak”.

Results: Cephalometric are distinguished by a specific use, and each analysis provides ideal advantages for study and diagnosis, Ricketts analyzes and predicts facial growth, McNamara uses his data for planning surgical and orthopaedic procedures, Steiner has dental, skeletal parameters and influence of band tissues and Jarabak is focused on dental alterations that may be produced by facial development. However, the main disadvantage of cephalometrics are studies obtained by means of radiographs that involve a percentage of radiation.

Conclusions: With cephalometries of we can predict and analyze facial growth data, obtain a surgical or orthopaedic approach, analyze anatomical structures with respect to the cranial base and the influence of the airways on the facial biotype.