Palatal development of preterm and low birthweight infants compared to term infants – What do we know? Part 1: The palate of the term newborn

Abstract

BackgroundThe evidence on prematurity as 'a priori' a risk for palatal disturbances that increase the need for orthodontic or orthognathic treatment is still weak. Further well-designed clinical studies are needed. The objective of this review is to provide a fundamental analysis of methodologies, confounding factors, and outcomes of studies on palatal development. One focus of this review is the analysis of studies on the palate of the term newborn, since knowing what is 'normal' is a precondition of being able to assess abnormalities.MethodsA search profile based on Cochrane search strategies applied to 10 medical databases was used to identify existing studies. Articles, mainly those published before 1960, were identified from hand searches in textbooks, encyclopedias, reference lists and bibliographies. Sources in English, German, and French of more than a century were included. Data for term infants were recalculated if particular information about weight, length, or maturity was given. The extracted values, especially those from non-English paper sources, were provided unfiltered for comparison.ResultsThe search strategy yielded 182 articles, of which 155 articles remained for final analysis. Morphology of the term newborn's palate was of great interest in the first half of the last century. Two general methodologies were used to assess palatal morphology: visual and metrical descriptions. Most of the studies on term infants suffer from lack of reliability tests. The groove system was recognized as the distinctive feature of the infant palate. The shape of the palate of the term infant may vary considerably, both visually and metrically. Gender, race, mode of delivery, and nasal deformities were identified as causes contributing to altered palatal morphology. Until today, anatomical features of the newborn's palate are subject to a non-uniform nomenclature.ConclusionToday's knowledge of a newborn's 'normal' palatal morphology is based on non-standardized and limited methodologies for measuring a three-dimensional shape. This shortcoming increases bias and is the reason for contradictory research results, especially if pathologic conditions like syndromes or prematurity are involved. Adequate measurement techniques are needed and the 'normal palatal morphology' should be defined prior to new clinical studies on palatal development.

Load‐related bone modelling at the interface of orthodontic micro‐implants

“…Furthermore, experimental studies have not generally been able to demonstrate implant loosening induced by orthodontic load (Wehrbein et al 1997;Akin-Nergiz et al 1998) even when these loads were applied immediately. Additionally, a number of clinical studies confirmed a positive effect of orthodontic loading on the stability of titanium screw implants, our finding of peri-implant bone (Roberts et al 1984;Wehrbein & Diedrich 1993;Wehrbein et al 1997;Hohoff et al 2005).…”

Load‐related bone modelling at the interface of orthodontic micro‐implants

“…Furthermore, experimental studies have not generally been able to demonstrate implant loosening induced by orthodontic load (Wehrbein et al 1997;Akin-Nergiz et al 1998) even when these loads were applied immediately. Additionally, a number of clinical studies confirmed a positive effect of orthodontic loading on the stability of titanium screw implants, our finding of peri-implant bone (Roberts et al 1984;Wehrbein & Diedrich 1993;Wehrbein et al 1997;Hohoff et al 2005).…”

Palatal Dimensions and Its Correlation with the Circumference of Upper Anterior Teeth

“…The average circumference of upper anterior teeth was 126.1 degree. Tables (3,4) reveled that the collected measurements of the palatal dimesions and the angle of circumference of upper anterior teeth in the males group is larger than those measurements in the females group this difference is not significant except the palatal depth of males is significantly higher than females. The palatal arch dimensions is positively correlated to palatal length except in the area adjacent to first molars is significantly reversed Table (5) while the width of palate is mainly reversely correlated to the depth especially in the area adjacent to first molars and this depth is diagonally correlated to palatal length.…”

Functional comparison of pacifiers using finite element analysis

“…In order to characterize the spatial distribution of the contact between the pacifier and the palate, the inferior surface of the palate was separated into several areas. The two that are of interest herein are the palatal vault (PV) and Tektal wall (TW) which were defined following [ 9 ]. In Fig.…”

Load‐related bone modelling at the interface of orthodontic micro‐implants

“…Furthermore, experimental studies have not generally been able to demonstrate implant loosening induced by orthodontic load (Wehrbein et al 1997;Akin-Nergiz et al 1998) even when these loads were applied immediately. Additionally, a number of clinical studies confirmed a positive effect of orthodontic loading on the stability of titanium screw implants, our finding of peri-implant bone (Roberts et al 1984;Wehrbein & Diedrich 1993;Wehrbein et al 1997;Hohoff et al 2005).…”

Palatal Dimensions and Its Correlation with the Circumference of Upper Anterior Teeth

“…The average circumference of upper anterior teeth was 126.1 degree. Tables (3,4) reveled that the collected measurements of the palatal dimesions and the angle of circumference of upper anterior teeth in the males group is larger than those measurements in the females group this difference is not significant except the palatal depth of males is significantly higher than females. The palatal arch dimensions is positively correlated to palatal length except in the area adjacent to first molars is significantly reversed Table (5) while the width of palate is mainly reversely correlated to the depth especially in the area adjacent to first molars and this depth is diagonally correlated to palatal length.…”

Functional comparison of pacifiers using finite element analysis

“…In order to characterize the spatial distribution of the contact between the pacifier and the palate, the inferior surface of the palate was separated into several areas. The two that are of interest herein are the palatal vault (PV) and Tektal wall (TW) which were defined following [ 9 ]. In Fig.…”

Load‐related bone modelling at the interface of orthodontic micro‐implants

“…Furthermore, experimental studies have not generally been able to demonstrate implant loosening induced by orthodontic load (Wehrbein et al 1997;Akin-Nergiz et al 1998) even when these loads were applied immediately. Additionally, a number of clinical studies confirmed a positive effect of orthodontic loading on the stability of titanium screw implants, our finding of peri-implant bone (Roberts et al 1984;Wehrbein & Diedrich 1993;Wehrbein et al 1997;Hohoff et al 2005).…”

Palatal Dimensions and Its Correlation with the Circumference of Upper Anterior Teeth

“…The average circumference of upper anterior teeth was 126.1 degree. Tables (3,4) reveled that the collected measurements of the palatal dimesions and the angle of circumference of upper anterior teeth in the males group is larger than those measurements in the females group this difference is not significant except the palatal depth of males is significantly higher than females. The palatal arch dimensions is positively correlated to palatal length except in the area adjacent to first molars is significantly reversed Table (5) while the width of palate is mainly reversely correlated to the depth especially in the area adjacent to first molars and this depth is diagonally correlated to palatal length.…”

Functional comparison of pacifiers using finite element analysis

“…In order to characterize the spatial distribution of the contact between the pacifier and the palate, the inferior surface of the palate was separated into several areas. The two that are of interest herein are the palatal vault (PV) and Tektal wall (TW) which were defined following [ 9 ]. In Fig.…”