The effect of hunger and satiety on natural head position: A photographical study

Patient photograph records for the purpose of orthodontic diagnosis, give sensitive information during treatment planning and they are of great importance in the orthodontic routine. While photographing the facial profile, the head position of the patients was oriented and recorded with the reference of Frankfurt Horizontal for many years. The concept of "natural head position (NHP)", which has been in the literature since the 1950s, is getting popular day by day. This concept is preferred by clinicians because it reflects the natural appearance of the patient in his daily life and shows high reproducibility. In addition, it provides valuable information in the evaluation of maxillofacial projections according to the true vertical line, especially in orthognathic surgery planning. The primary purpose of this study; to detect the DBP change in fasting (A-T0) and satiety (T-T0). The secondary aim of the study is to collect information about the effect of fasting and satiety on the reproducibility of NHP. 57 healthy individuals (27 women, 30 men) were included in our study. In obtaining NHP, a simple and routinely applicable in clinical practice, profile photograph recording method with a tripod in the presence of plumb line was preferred. The fasting photo (A-T0) of the participants in the morning (after overnight fasting) and the photo of satiety (T-T0) 1 hour after the meal on the same day were recorded. The same procedure was repeated after 2 weeks by recording fasting (A-T1) and satiety (T-T1) photographs. As a result of the study, fasting (mean 89.13°) and satiety (mean 89.75°) did not have a statistically significant effect on NHP. In addition, fasting (mean 1.66° between A-T0 and A-T1) and satiety (mean 1.42° between T-T0 and T-T1) did not cause a statistically significant change on the reproducibility of NHP, however, it was concluded that NHP reproducibility was better during the fed state than the fasted state. In other words, our study revealed that the patient's hunger or satiety status did not have a significant effect on NHP records when the photographic records of the patients who applied to our clinic for orthodontic registration were taken.