title: Natural head position: key position for radiographic and photographic analysis and research of craniofacial complex.
abstract: The Frankfort horizontal is a useful compromise for studying skulls but not for orienting the natural head position (NHP) in the living because it is normally distributed around a true extracranial horizontal. Nonetheless, orthodontists dealing with living subjects, rather than inert crania, have used this Frankfort horizontal faithfully in cephalometry. Because the cant or inclination of all intracranial reference lines is subjected to biologic variation, they are unsuitable for meaningful cephalometric analysis. Registration of head posture in its natural position has the advantage that an extracranial vertical or a horizontal perpendicular to that vertical can be used as reference line for cephalometric analysis. Purpose of this paper is to provide an updated review of various methods to reproduce and record the NHP.
authors.affiliation: Associate ProfessorChairman, Department of Orthodontics and Dental Anatomy, Dr. ZA Dental College, AMU, Aligarh, India.
authors.forename: Sanjeev Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Verma
authors.affiliation: Professor and Chairman, Department of Orthodontics and Dental Anatomy, Dr. ZA Dental College, AMU, Aligarh, India.
authors.forename: Sandhya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maheshwari
authors.affiliation: Professor, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Dental College, Azamgarh, India.
authors.forename: Sanjay N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Gautam
authors.affiliation: Tutor, Department of Orthodontics and Dental Anatomy, Dr. ZA Dental College, AMU, Aligarh, India.
authors.forename: Kc
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Prabhat
authors.affiliation: Resident, Department of Prosthodontics, CSM Medical University, Lucknow, India.
authors.forename: Shailendra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumar
keywords: Natural head position; radiographic cephalometry; true vertical line