Natural head position: A review

Abstract

Objectives: Although the Frankfort Horizontal (FH) and sella-nasion were routinely used as craniofacial reference planes, the inter-individual orientations were changeable when related to true horizontal (HOR). Natural head position (NHP) is a reproducible, standardized position, with the head in an upright posture and eyes focused on a point in the distance at eye level so that the visual axis is horizontal. The natural head position has importance in anthropological as well as in orthodontic fields, as this position has a relatively fixed relationship to the true horizontal and vertical planes. However, NHP is clinically not simple and it takes long time to be recorded, in addition to a deficiency in the tools utilized in the NHP and lack in the staff training. This paper aims to shed the light on different methods of NHP registration and reproduction. Data and Sources: A literature review of English articles was performed using PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar to search for natural head position in orthodontics. Conclusions: NHP is affected by many factors, and it is different in walking state than in static state. There are various cephalometric or photographic methods for NHP recording.