A new look at mandibular growth--a preliminary report.

Cephalometric radiographs of 42 growth study subjects (21 males, 21 females) were the basis of an investigation into the longitudinal growth of the mandible from 5 to 20 years using a digitizer program capable of generating curved outlines through groups of four points. In this presentation mean plots for all subjects at 5, 10, 15, and 20 years of age, variously superimposed, confirmed the previous theories of Björk and Skieller (1983) with regard to mandibular rotation and provide a visual representation of the processes of mandibular growth.