Ph. Buschang et al., LONGITUDINAL SHAPE CHANGES OF THE NASAL DORSUM, American journal of orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics, 104(6), 1993, pp. 539-543
This investigation quantifies childhood and adolescent growth changes
of the upper and lower nasal dorsum and evaluates various aspects of t
he persons' morphology that relate to shape changes of the dorsum. A l
ongitudinal sample of 37 French-Canadian girls, each having cephalogra
ms at 6, 10, and 14 years of age, was evaluated. The 6- to 1O-year int
erval was chosen to represent childhood growth; the 10- to 14-year int
erval represented adolescent growth. The upper dorsum rotates upward a
nd forward (counterclockwise) approximately 10 degrees between 6 to 14
years of age. The lower dorsum shows both downward and backward (cloc
kwise) and upward and forward (counterclockwise) rotation average chil
dhood and adolescent changes in angulation were not significant. The r
esults clearly indicate that changes in the nasal dorsum are most clos
ely related to angulation changes of the lower dorsum, particularly du
ring adolescence. The [ower dorsum rotates downward and backward in pe
rsons who show greater vertical and less horizontal growth changes. Ro
tational changes of the lower dorsum are most closely related with ver
tical changes at pronasale.