Prenatal Growth and Morphology of the Human Bony Palate

¹ Department of Orthodontics, School of Dentistry, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

There has been scant and inadequate study of the changing morphologic relationships achieved by the premaxillae, maxillae, and palatine bones as they develop from ossification centers to the eventual formation of the bony palate as known in postnatal life. In an attempt to describe the normal morphologic sequence of events that take place, a series of 151 fetuses ranging in age from 7 to 18 weeks was cleared and stained with alizarin red S. Study of the stained bony palate was conducted by microscopic examination, by palpation, by measurement, and by photography. It was found that eight morphologic stages in development could be described. Allometric studies indicated that the bony palate achieves its normal, characteristically human proportions through rigidly controlled, though highly complex, patterns of acceleration and deceleration of growth in the various bony components of the palate, that is, through differential growth of the component parts.