Cephalometric Analysis of Growth and Treatment with the Structural Technique: A Review of its Background and 68 Clinical Application

The aim of this review is to provide the fundamental basis and scientific evidence for the so-called “structural technique.” In this article we will discuss the benefits and challenges of this technique as well as present and compare it to the so-called “best fit” technique. Furthermore, we will introduce the three parts of the analysis, most commonly used for evaluation of growth and treatment changes. The “structural technique” developed by Professor Arne Björk and his associate Dr. Vibeke Skieller is the result of their longitudinal studies using metallic implants as biological markers. These studies showed that most of the information gained when using the conventional best-fit technique for analyzing growth and treatment, is incorrect. Metallic implants inserted in both the maxilla and mandible in more than 300 untreated subjects, provided the database for this new technique. Based on their findings, Björk and Skieller developed a new method for superimposing serial headfilms that they called the “the structural technique” that greatly reduces the previous analysis errors providing more meaningful information. Our review evaluates and demonstrates the clinical application of the “structural technique” in orthodontic patients.