Cephalometric Superimposition

His famous dissertation, published in 1947, The Face in Profile. An Anthropological X-ray Investigation on Swedish Children and Conscripts, is an outstanding contribution. That monograph became the classic example for numerous scholars to follow so that, 25 years later, a second printing was necessary. research fellow and guest lecturer at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. In 1958 he was a research fellow at the National Institutes of Health at Bethesda, Maryland. His influential and historic longitudinal research studies of human postnatal facial growth, performed with the aid of metallic implants, are unique and brought him even greater international fame and acknowledgment. These studies provided new and as-yet-unsurpassed insights into the individual variation of postnatal facial growth patterns and made possible the development of the structural method of superimposition. ix viii An important part of orthodontic diagnosis deals with the radiologic evaluation of anatomical variation. Moreover, the study of longitudinal changes induced by growth, as well as by orthodontic treatment, offers important and interesting information for all those who are involved in orthodontics. Three-dimensional tomography is a hot topic today. The new imaging techniques certainly will offer new insights in the changes induced by normal growth, abnormal growth, or treatment. It will provide better data of transversal growth of the entire skull and especially of the cranial base. The present emphasis on minimizing radiation exposure, however, does not sustain the use of three-dimensional tomography on a routine basis in a conventional orthodontic practice. The high amount of radiation surely precludes its use for routine orthodontic treatment planning and evaluation of treatment results. Moreover, it is unknown whether the new techniques will offer new evidence that will differ markedly from our existing knowledge of craniofacial growth and differ from Björk's legacy. The authors of this textbook propose to describe, illustrate, and evaluate Björk's structural superimposition method. They intend to reach orthodontic specialists who wish to refresh and/or update their understanding and specialists in training who need a thorough and sound scientific introduction to this subject. The state of the art of the structural superim-position method, introduced by Björk, is the main theme of this beautifully edited book. It remains most interesting to learn how in historic times, different scientists have tried to explain growth changes. Many ideas of craniofacial growth in the past are bypassed by Björk's implant studies. It remains amazing that for more than 200 years, the complexities of skull …