Evaluation of facial anthropometric parameters in 11-17 year old boys.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Anthropometry is the study of qualitative specifications based on linear and angular measurements of human body. The aim of the present study was to determine anthropometric parameters of 11-17 year old boys of northeast Iran.

METHOD

This cross-sectional analytical study was conducted on 583 boys of Fars ethnicity living in Mashhad with Class I skeletal and dental relationships. Digital photographs in natural head position were transferred to a computer and the desired anthropometric landmarks were traced on each image. Anthropometric parameters including the width of the forehead, the width of the face, the width of the cranial base, intergonial width, intercanthal width, binocular width, nasal width, mouth width, facial and nasal height and depth of superior, middle and inferior one-third of the face were measured by "Smile Analyzer" software. ANOVA, Tukey test, and linear regression were used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS

Most of the parameters studied increased gradually with age. A growth spurt was evident at the ages of 15-16 years old for binocular width, nasal width, nasal height and depths of middle and inferior one-third of the face. Facial height was among some parameters which were found to increase slightly after 16. Unlike the other parameters, intercanthal width showed an irregular pattern of changes and statistical analysis did not show any significant differences among different age groups (P-value = 0.362).

CONCLUSION

Aging of the face occurs in spurts and at different periods of life. During the studied time span, significant growth in most anthropometric parameters except intercanthal width was obvious.