Growth of mandible

The Journal of Clinical Pediatric Dentistry Volume 26, Number 3/2002 279 INTRODUCTION Facial growth tends to proceed along a vector composed of variable amounts of horizontal and vertical growth, as a result of osseous development at facial sutures, alveolar processes, mandibular condyles, and tooth eruption. Schudy reported that growth of the mandible was a principle-determining factor of facial morphology. The mandible, a movable component in mastication, is suspended by the various muscles and ligaments. During the eruption of permanent teeth, the mandible receives a variety of functional forces, but continues to perform sophisticated movements required for mastication as well as speech. The mandible can be divided into four functional components: the condyle, the ramus, the corpus, and the alveolus.To understand how the mandible grows, each component needs to be studied. Morphological studies of the dentofacial structures in human beings are usually made from radiographs. In particular, the first choice technique used in the imaging of the mandible is panoramic radiography. The panoramic radiography is a device widely used in clinical dentistry because of its simple procedures and low radiation dosage and is often a tool in the routine examination and dental diagnoses, especially for children before the dental treatment. The whole mandible including the two rami and condyles and associated structures are shown on a single panoramic radiograph. The film can provide qualitative and quantitative information and comparison between right and left homologous structures. Even though the use of panoramic radiographs is connected with large methodological pitfalls, some quantitative methods have been used for linear and angular measurements. The purpose of this study was to evaluate, using panoramic radiograph, morphology of mandible and its developmental changes of normal occlusion children through a group of linear and angular measurements.