Roentgen stereometry with the aid of metallic implants in hemifacial microsomia

Displacement of the mandible and the maxilla with growth in relationship to the frontal bone was recorded in eleven children with hemifacial microsomia, aged 3 to 14 years at the initial examination. The goals were to assess the efficiency of the method for accurate recording of articular growth and to obtain information on facial development in each of these children. Correction of the skeletal asymmetry was not attempted during observation periods of from 707 to 1,484 days. In continued observations three of the children were treated with functional appliances. Roentgen stereometry with the aid of metallic implants proved to be an efficient method for highly accurate recordings of articular facial growth in relationship to the frontal bone. Displacement of the jaws was asymmetrical in all of the examined children as determined in the frontal and transverse planes of the head. In about 50 percent of the children the degree of asymmetry increased in one plane while it decreased in the other plane. No correlation was found between the extent of the mandibular deformity, as seen on orthopantomograms, and the displacements of the mandible. Generally, the displacement of the maxillary bones corresponded with the displacement of the mandible. Articular growth of the jaws was redirected toward a more favorable pattern in two of the children during the time they used a functional appliance. In the third child the use of a functional appliance had no such effect.