[Soft tissue configuration in certain syndromes of the head and neck]

In order to examine the relationship existing between soft tissue configuration and the underlying skeletodental framework, patients presenting severe and representative syndromes of the head and neck were studied. Grouping of these patients in three groups according to the similarities of the skeletal pattern and/or the etiology of the syndrome, provided a basis for evaluation, comparison and contradistinction of the configuration of the hard and soft tissues, in a material where genetic predetermination is dominant. By cephalometric analysis, superimposition and plotting of the soft tissues on an abstraction and relative magnification basis, the following conclusions could be formulated: a) There is a specificity in the soft tissue configuration of the face of patients with specific syndromes and, this specificity, seems to be independent of the underlying skeletodental elements in the area of the nose and the upper lip. b) A genetic predetermination of the soft tissue morphology can be deduced because, in patients with specific syndromes, the same characteristics accompany constantly the same chromosomal or gene mutations. c) Further studies along these lines might throw more light on the role of genetics in soft tissue configuration and function.