Soft tissue thickness values for black and coloured South African children aged 6–13 years

Abstract

Highlights• Population data for facial soft tissue thickness (STT) of Black and Coloured South African children are provided for facial reconstruction / approximation of juvenile remains.• STT data should be pooled as two age groups subdivided at age 10 with ancestry taken into account.• Sex should not be considered as it seems not to impact STT with more than 2 mm at any landmark.• STTs in Coloured children are generally larger than in Black children. AbstractIn children, craniofacial changes due to facial growth complicate facial approximations and require specific knowledge of soft tissue thicknesses (STT). The lack of South African juvenile STT standards of particular age groups, sex and ancestry is problematic. According to forensic artists in the South African Police Service the use of African-American values to reconstruct faces of Black South African children yields poor results. In order to perform a facial approximation that presents a true reflection of the child in question, information regarding 2 differences in facial soft tissue at different ages, sexes and ancestry groups is needed. The aims of this study were to provide data on STT of South African Black and Coloured children and to to assess differences in STT with respect to age, sex and ancestry. STT was measured using cephalograms of South African children (n = 388), aged 6 -13 years. After digitizing the images, STT measurements were taken at ten mid-facial landmarks from each image using the iTEM measuring program. STT comparisons between groups per age, sex and ancestry were statistically analyzed. The results showed that STT differences at lower face landmarks are more pronounced in age groups per ancestry as opposed to differences per age and sex. Generally, an increase in STT was seen between 6 -10 year old groups and 11 -13 year old groups, regardless of ancestry and sex, at the midphiltrum, labiale inferius, pogonion, and beneath chin landmarks.This research created a reference dataset for STT of South African children of Black and Coloured ancestry per age and sex that will be useful for facial reconstruction / approximation of juvenile remains.

Male and Female Characteristics of Facial Soft Tissue Thickness in Different Orthodontic Malocclusions Evaluated by Cephalometric Radiography

“…Panenkova [ 2 ], Subramanian et al [ 10 ], Celikoglu et al [ 28 ], and Al-Mashhadany et al, in patients with a Class I sagittal relationship [ 31 ], showed significant differences between men and women for the FSTT of the labrale superius, labrale inferius and pogonion, and came to similar conclusions as the present study. However, in contrast to the findings of the present study, Drgacova et al [ 20 ], Stephan et al [ 32 ], and Briers et al [ 33 ] reported that differences did exist between men and women for the FSTT but that these differences were given undue credence to the difference in FSTT rarely went beyond 2mm, which was of no significance in everyday clinical practice.…”

“…Lateral cephalometric radiography, which generates a lateral cephalogram, shows dental, skeletal, and soft tissue profiles, and is used to determine dental and skeletal relationships, with the aim of planning orthodontic treatment [ 33 ]. More contemporary methods for determining FSTT have recently been developed [ 14 , 23 ], including computed tomography (CT) scanning [ 35 ], cone beam CT (CBCT) [ 17 , 19 ], ultrasonography [ 4 ], and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) [ 18 , 22 ].…”

“…There is still controversy over the influence of sex on FSTT, and most authors believe that there are significant differences between men and women in FSTT [ 2 , 5 , 8 , 25 , 26 , 29 – 31 ]. However, other authors refute these differences [ 16 , 20 , 32 , 33 ].…”

Facial soft tissue thicknesses: Noise, signal, and P

“…A number of factors promote this popularity: i) facial soft tissue thicknesses (FSTT) can be relatively quickly and simply measured; ii) central tendency description via the calculation of arithmetic means is enticingly straightforward; and iii) extensive options exist for categorizing samples to facilitate publication. These qualities have driven a recent explosion of papers in the field [3]; just in Forensic Science International alone there have, for example, been no less than 16 contributions between 2009 and mid-2015 [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19].…”

“…Despite prior calls to caution that small statistically significant differences should not be automatically interpreted as biological signal [1-3, 20, 21], recent studies show a sustained hesitation to abandon past practice both in regards to sex and ancestry distinction (see e.g., [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][22][23][24][25]). It seems it is difficult to refrain from assigning practical significance to statistically significant test results, even when the mean differences are diminishingly small.…”