Linear growth study of the pharyngeal cavity.

Normal speech production, deglutition, and breathing are basic functional processes that are dependent, in part, on the patency and normal configuration of the pharyngeal cavity. Ricketts' has stressed the importance of developmental abnormalities in the palatal region in the production of deep changes in voice and breathing patterns in human beings. Perez et al2 and Dedo3 also have reported on the morphologic changes that occur in the pharyngeal cavity because of pathologic or surgical interventions or both. and on problems when patients face rehabilitation procedures. There is no doubt then that the pharyngeal cavity is a functionally important pathway that needs to be evaluated as such. Craniometric and other osteologic points have been used to assess pharyngeal areas primarily concerned with velopharyngeal physiology. In his study of the nasopharynx, King4 found that the distance from the sellanasion to the posterior nasal spine was slightly greater in males than in females. Bergland5 studied skull material from two different racial populations and found that the length of the dorsal border of the vomer was significantly greater in males. However, these studies were done on dried skulls without considering the soft tissues covering the bones. This last condition makes the previous data inadequate for determining the