Nasofacial Indices among Children in Southern Nigeria

The facial and nasal indices are among the most important cephalometric parameters useful in inter- racial and intra- racial morphological classification and categorization. They are useful in the description of the facial and nasal morphological characteristics of human population in different geographical location. This study was carried out to describe the naso- facial morphology of children in the Southern part of Nigeria. Four hundred and eighty children aged 5 to 15 years were randomly selected to represent the larger population. The mean facial index for the male and female children was 87.15 ± 1.70 and 86.25 ± 1.70 respectively. The mean nasal index for the male and female children was 93.45 ± 1.66 and 89.62 ± 1.58 respectively. The nasal index value showed significant sexual variation with the male subjects having higher values than female subjects but the facial index values was not significantly different across gender. This study showed the prevalence of the mesoproscopic face type and the platyrrhine nose type among the children of Southern Nigeria.