Cephalometric evaluation of Mexican Americans using the Downs and Steiner analyses.

T he introduction of the cephalometer to orthodontics provided the avenue for the creation of cephalometric analyses. Cotton, Takano, and Wong,6 Altemus,’ Chang4 and Drummondg were among those who provided the clinician with guides and standards for specific racial groups which were different from the classic Caucasian norms found in most analyses. The present study was concerned with a single ethnic group for which little cephalometric information was available, the Mexican American. There are approximately 11,000,000 persons of Spanish descent in the United States, and the people of Mexican descent make up a great portion of that number. The purpose of this study was to formulate cephalometric norms for the Mexican American and to compare these data with the norms established by Downs8 and Steiner.14y I5