[Head posture in lateral roentgen image].

A cervico-cephalometric examination of 61 yet untreated orthodontic patients was performed in order to analyze differences in head posture between standardized cephalograms and lateral cephalograms taken in natural head position. Additional x-rays were taken in extreme flexion and extention of the head in 48 patients examining the mobility of the upper cervical spine. Finding partly large differences in cranio-vertical and cranio-cervical parameters between the two methods of registration it could be shown, that head posture on the average was more proclined in natural than in fixed standardized position. Subjects with class III malocclusion tended to a more extended head posture relatively to those with class I or class II malocclusion. Judging the atlas position with regard to the functional mobility of the upper cervical spine, a superior and inferior atlas position was not thought to be a pathologic fixed malposition.