The effect of posture change on the position of the skin marks for the transverse horizontal axis

Marks are placed on facial skin in clinical dentistry to indicate the position of more deeply placed landmarks or reference points. In this study the movement of the transverse horizontal axis skin points overlying the craniomandibular articulation were observed and quantified. The time taken for the skin displacement to occur when the posture changed between upright and supine was also studied. The extent of displacement of the skin point was approximately 3 mm in the sagittal plane and 2 mm in the frontal plane when the posture was changed from upright to supine and vice versa. The displacement was complete after 30 seconds in 95% of subjects. The direction of the displacement was primarily cephalad but with a dorsal component of more than 10 degrees in 87% of subjects. The extent of the movement in the sagittal and frontal planes was correlated. There was no gender difference for the skin displacement. Awareness by clinicians of the extent and direction of such facial skin movements can help to prevent errors.