Stability of upper face height-total face height ratio with increasing age.

A number of investigators, while recognizing that vertical facial dimensions continue to increase throughout adulthood, have commented on the relative constancy of vertical facial proportions during growth. Broadbent (Angle Orthod 7: 209, 1937) claimed that a proportional increase in the size of the segments of the face occurs after deciduous dentition is completed. Brodie (Am J Orthod 26: 741, 1940; Am J Anat 68: 209, 1941) stated that upper face height always constitutes 43% of the total face height, whether one studies the newborn, a child, or an adult. Herzberg and Holic (Am J Orthod 29: 90, 1943), in a study of 326 adult skulls of differing racial origins, found that upper facial height comprised 43.5% of the total face height; Sarnas (Acta Odontol Scand 15: 218, 1957), finding similar results in a study of ancient skulls, concluded that this ratio was unaffected by age and has not changed significantly through time or with race from ancient to modern man. However, some studies have produced conflicting results. Thompson and Kendrick (Anat Rec 150: 209, 1964), for example, found that lower face height increased more than upper face height through the third and fourth decades of life, but cited several earlier studies claiming that increases in upeer face height were most responsible for increases in total face height, and although upper face height continues to increase through the mid-fifties, total face height decreases after age 35. The purpose of the present report is to present some new data having a bearing on the question of whether or not the upper face