An analytical study on the acceptable range of pitching angle for proper frontal facial photo

Abstract

Pitching, the sagittal rotation of the head, causes misrepresentation of a image in the frontal facial photo. Therefore, a certain standard should be established for pitching to obtain proper frontal photos for diagnosis. The purpose of this study was to determine the acceptable range of pitching angles. Linear measurements were carried out using frontal facial photos taken at every 2° angle from +20° to -20° to have a picture that could be regarded to be the same as that in the FH head position (0°). It was found that the lower facial width decreased proportionally with upward transfer of the angle. The upper facial height did not show any significant differences in the range of +12° to -12°. The decreasing rate of mid and total facial height was negligibly small from -20° to 0° but became significantly large from 0° to +20°. Lower facial height decreased proportionally with upward transfer of the angle. It was also found that the upper : mid : lower facial height ratio varied in each picture. On the basis of the results, the acceptable range of pitching angle was determined to be +2° to -2°.