Three-dimensional facial morphometry and conventional cephalometrics: a correlation study.

The purpose of this study was to compare the correlation between three-dimensional soft tissue measurements obtained with three-dimensional digital infrared photogrammetry and two-dimensional data obtained with conventional cephalometry. Facial morphometry was investigated in a group of 20 healthy young men using both systems on each subject. From the lateral radiographs, conventional two-dimensional cephalometric hard and soft tissue data were calculated, while three-dimensional linear and angular soft tissue measurements were computed from the infrared photogrammetry. The correlations between the two sets of measurements were calculated. Three-dimensional soft tissue measurements correlated to cephalometric data primarily contained information useful for esthetic analysis. The soft tissue infrared measurements also allowed evaluation of the general hard tissue situation. Since the soft tissue measurements are calculated with a noninvasive system, they could be computed more frequently during treatment and be used to supplement pretreatment and posttreatment radiographs.