An introduction to growth of the human face from infancy to adulthood

The points to be made in this introductory report are:

• 1.

  1. That in the study of growth of the face, the meaning of increases in dimensions must be clearly understood.

• 2.

  2. That increase of the dimension of one part may mean decrease in substance (nasal aperture), and decrease in dimension of another part may mean addition of substance (relative decrease in upper and lower face height as compared with total face height—made up by development of dentition).

• 3.

  3. That the human face, as it is represented by this group, grows by increase in size in three planes: vertical, transverse, and anteroposterior.

• 4.

  4. That the dimensions are measurable by some sort of a measuring rod., while growth of the dimensions is measured by anatomic manifestations.

• 5.

  5. That the dimension of the human face, as represented by the group studied, is greatest in width, less in height and least in depth.

• 6.

  6. That the greatest dimension increases least and the smallest most.

• 7.

  7. That with increase in size of the human face there is a change in proportion of the dimensions studied.

• 8.

  8. That the dimensions of the same plane, at different levels, grow at different rates.

• 9.

  9. That, as the face grows longer, it increases vertically more in the back than in the front; transversely and anteroposteriorly more below than above.

• 10.

  10. That some of these changes are more emphasized in the male than in the female.

• 11.

  11. That the face of the female is relatively longer and that of the male is relatively broader and deeper. That the female jaw bones and dental arches are relatively more prognathous than those of the male.

• 12.

  12. That when the face increases its dimensions in height and depth, there is simultaneous but alternate acceleration and retardation of growth in the two planes, at the different levels of the same plane and in different sections of the same dimension.

• 13.

  13. That the growth stages of the face are seriated in this paper not primarily according to chronologic age, but according to the sequence of eruption and shedding of deciduous teeth and appearance of permanent teeth.

• 14.

  14. That the greater bulk of the observations were made on the same growing individuals over periods of from two to seven years.

It is planned on a subsequent occasion to report the progress of growth changes in individuals.