The aims of the present study were: (1) to investigate the statistical differences in jaw relationship assessments with the ANB angle and the Wits appraisal in Angle Class III children, and (2) to suggest guidelines for the use of these two parameters in this group of children. Seventy-five Angle Class I children with anterior crowding (male, 37; female, 38) and 96 Angle Class III children with anterior crossbite (male, 38; female, 58) were examined. All had undergone treatment that started at 8 or 9 years of age. Pre-treatment lateral cephalograms were used cross-sectionally for the analysis. The mean age was 8 years 7 months +/- 9 months in the Class I subjects, and 9 years 0 month +/- 7 months in the Class III subjects. To compare the assessments using ANB angle and the Wits appraisal in the Angle's Class III subjects, nine measured values from each individual subject were converted into Z scores in relation to the means and standard deviations of the two parameters in the Angle Class I subjects. The jaw discrepancy is assessed more severely using the ANB angle than by the Wits appraisal in these Angle Class III subjects. The paired t-test showed that the Z score of the ANB angle was significantly smaller than that of the Wits appraisal (P < 0.001). In Angle Class III subjects with a counter-clockwise mandibular rotation and a flattened occlusal plane, the ANB angle is a more critical cephalometric parameter than the Wits appraisal.