Abstract
Abstract Objective To investigate whether changes in head posture have significant effects on facial soft tissues during white-light scanning. Materials and methods Thirty-four adult patients participated in the study in which 22 soft tissue landmarks were marked on the face of each subject using an oil-based pen. The subjects wore digital inclinometers on top of their heads, and sat relaxed with their heads orientated in natural head position (NHP), while a facial scan was captured. The subjects underwent a second facial scan in an upward 5°(U5), upward 10°(U10), downward 5°(D5), or a downward 10°(D10) direction with respect to the NHP. The NHP image was superimposed on the images taken at the different head postures and a single co-ordinate system was obtained. The axial reference plane (x-axis), the sagittal reference plane (y-axis) and the coronal plane (z-axis) were set with N’ as the zero point (0, 0, 0). The changes in position of each landmark caused by the change of head posture were measured. Results When the subject’s head was in the U5 and D5 posture, changes in landmark identification were not statistically significantly different. When the subject’s head was in the U10 posture, soft tissue Stmi and Li moved downward significantly. Soft tissue pogonion moved forward significantly in the D10 posture. Conclusions Soft tissue changes within 5° of the natural head posture were clinically negligible. If efforts to reproduce natural head position are carried out, reliable facial scanning images can be obtained without the support of any special head positioning tools.
Highlights
An evaluation of the soft and hard tissue configurations of the craniofacial complex is an essential requirement for the diagnosis and treatment of dento-facial disharmony
Past assessments started with 2D data obtained by lateral cephalography and shifted to the use of clinical photographs, 3D cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT), and facial scanning, which is currently widely applied for soft tissue evaluation during orthodontic or orthognathic treatment
The present results indicate that the changes in the soft tissues within 3° of the changes in head posture were negligible
Summary
An evaluation of the soft and hard tissue configurations of the craniofacial complex is an essential requirement for the diagnosis and treatment of dento-facial disharmony. Clinicians and patients are aware and focus on the possible soft tissues changes that might occur during treatment. An objective assessment of facial soft tissues is important when planning orthodontic treatment, evaluating posttreatment outcomes, and analysing facial growth.[1,2]. Facial soft tissue morphology was evaluated primarily using two-dimensional (2D) lateral cephalometric radiographs.[3,4,5,6] an evaluation of three-dimensional (3D) facial morphology using. The conventional lateral head film distorts the geometric images and displays only the soft tissue configurations of the midline structures, which is a critical drawback in an appreciation of the soft tissue changes from the frontal aspect
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