Abstract
In this study, to investigate exact changes of the soft tissue profile on the mid-sagittal plane associated with the vertical and horizontal movement of the mandible, 15 females with normal occlusion were measured by using a non-contact 3-D shape measurement apparatus with an image encoder. In the measurement, the mandible of each subject was induced with a bite plate, horizontally downward from the centric position every 1mm (0-4mm), and forward every 1 mm (0-7mm) from each downward position.After each 3-D data of facial soft tissue was overlapped by using FITTING PROGRAM (3D-SPHINX), simple regression linear analysis was performed to obtain the regression formula which determines the 2-D movement of 21 points on the soft tissue profile of mid-sagittal plane to the movement of mandible.As the results of this study, exact ratios of soft tissue changes in relationship to the simple movement of the mandible were clarified.
