NATURAL CERVICAL INCLINATION AND CRANIOFACIAL STRUCTURE

The purpose of this study was to search for the statistical associatio ns between postural and morphologic variables of the head. Interpretat ion of the facial structure was made by using both intracranial and th e extracranial reference lines. The sample comprised natural head post ure (NHP) cephalograms of 106 dental students, aged 19 to 29 years. Re sults showed that, when the facial structure was evaluated by using a NHP analysis based on extracranial reference lines, it was associated with the inclination of the cervical column to the true horizontal. In addition, in the natural position of the head, inclination of the NSL reference was found to be associated with the vertical localization o f sella turcica (r = -724, p less than or equal to 0.001), rather than the ''extension'' or ''flexion'' of the head. It was concluded that a ssociations between posture and structure of the head are merely cause d by the functional factors related to ''forward cervical posture'' an d ''vertical cervical posture''.