Objective: Unilateral positional plagiocephaly is the most common deformity of the head in infants. As part of a prospective controlled clinical study, the pathomorphology of the positional plagiocephaly in early infancy was examined. The goal was to use noninvasive three-dimensional (3D) imaging to generate, for the first time ever, a standard database of infants without head deformities, to quantify the asymmetry of the positional plagiocephaly, and to evaluate the effectiveness of functional growth control using head orthesis.
Patients and methods: In the present study, 3D soft-tissue data of the entire head were collected from a total of 40 infants: 20 with positional plagiocephaly (6.0 ± 0.97 months) and 20 infants without a head deformity (6.4 ± 0.3 months). Functional growth was controlled using a custom-made head orthesis. To evaluate the therapy, pre- and posttherapeutic scans were evaluated in three dimensions.
Results: Compared with the control group, infants with positional plagiocephaly demonstrated a reduced maximum length of the head, an increased head height, a shift in the ear axis as well as asymmetric anterior and posterior volumes of the neurocranium in lateral comparisons. Therapy using head orthesis led to a significant improvement of the asymmetry, with a reduction of the diagonal difference and an adjustment of the posterior volumes.
Conclusion: Conservative growth control of extrinsically deformed infant skulls represents an interdisciplinary medical expansion of the orthodontic therapeutic spectrum. To prevent potential effects of positional plagiocephaly on the viscerocranium, head orthesis therapy is advisable in infancy.