Experimental and clinical postnatal craniofacial skeletal changes.

An understanding of normal and abnormal postnatal skeletal changes can aid in the prevention, early recognition and proper surgical treatment of craniofacial deformities. Research findings may have important implications and applications in relation not only to the basic problem of change of bone form but also to the clinical problems of craniofacial operations. Precise analogies, however, should not be made between animals and human beings. Change of the craniofacial skeleton, a three-dimensional mosaic of bones and cavities, is a result of the synchronous co-ordination of the differential activities at various sites. The dynamics of normal and abnormal postnatal growth and change of the craniofacial skeletal system are a fascinating, complex, incomplete chapter in the field of biology.