title: Soft tissue facial morphology related to headform: a three-dimensional quantitative analysis in childhood.
abstract: The object of this investigation was to determine whether children of the same age with different headforms differ in their three-dimensional soft-tissue facial characteristics. The three-dimensional coordinates of 22 standardized facial landmarks were automatically collected in a sample of 70 boys and 71 girls age 11 to 13 years attending a junior high school. From the collected landmarks, several three-dimensional facial angles, linear distances, linear distance ratios, and volumes were calculated. For each subject the cephalic index (maximal head breadth/ maximal head length x 100) was computed and three groups of measurements for each sex were obtained (dolicho-, meso- and brachycephalic). A two-way factorial analysis of variance compared the effects of sex and headform, and the interaction sex x headform. On average, boys had significantly (P < or = 0.05) longer and wider faces than girls, with a larger lower third facial volume relative to middle third facial volume. A significant (P < or = 0.05) effect of headform over facial morphology was found for all angles with a prevalent axial orientation. Conversely, no effect was demonstrated for angles with a sagittal orientation, nor for any other considered parameters. For each sex, the dolichocephalic children had smaller values than the brachycephalic children (i.e., more convex faces in the left-right direction), while the mesocephalic children had intermediate values. No sex x headform interactions were found. Results confirm that a different headform (skull) is associated with a different three-dimensional facial morphology (combined effect of skull and soft tissues), but without size differences.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio di Anatomia Funzionale dell'Apparato Stomatognatico (LAFAS), Istituto di Anatomia Umana Normale, Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: V F
authors.initials: VF
authors.lastname: Ferrario
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sforza
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Poggio
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Schmitz
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Colombo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002508:Cephalometry; D002648:Child; D005145:Face / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D006257:Head / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008445:Maxillofacial Development; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D012737:Sex Factors