Craniometric studies on Indian children

Abstract

To examine their morphological growth, twenty-four juvenile Indian skulls were craniometrically studied. The skulls studied were, according to their times and order of dental eruption or age, classified into three categories :(a) group 1 in the late stage of deciduous dentition or three to five years of age, (b)group 2 in the stage of mixed dentition or six to seven years of age, and (c) group 3 in the middle stage of mixed dentition or eight to nine years of age. The lengths, breadths, heights, chords, substances and angles of the skull were measured by the method of Martin-Saller (1957) and the indices were calculated.The followings were the results obtained.1) The juvenile Indian skulls showed a steady growth from the group 1 to the group 3 in order of age. It was revealed that the relative growth of the skull from the group 1 to the group 2 was, in general, larger than that from the group 2 to the group 3.2) As to the skulls growing from the group 1 to the group 2, the growth of the facial skeleton was relatively larger than that of the brain case. In the facial skeleton the average maximum and minimum rates of growth were 9.8 in the heights and 8.1 in the lengths, whereas in the brain case those were 6.7 in the lengths and 3.1 in the heights, respectively. In this period from the group 1 to the group 2, the growth of the facial skeleton was relatively large in the heights as well as in the orbital, nasal, maxillary and palatal dimensions, while it was not very so in the lengths and breadths. On the contrary, the relative growth of the brain case was remarkedly large in the lengths and breadths, but small in the chords, substances and heights.3) As to the skulls growing from the group 2 to the group 3, there was no significant difference in the average rates of growth between the facial skeleton and the brain case. In this period, the skulls got their growth on much the same pattern as seen in the period from the group 1 to the group 2.4) The angles of the skull exceptionally showed little change during the growth from the group 1 to the group 3.