Helping teenagers face the world

Two high-resolution 3D cameras are used to record the images

Scores of children are taking part in a study using state-of-the-art technology to find out how their faces grow.

The aim of the research, by doctors in Cardiff, is to plan better treatment for people with conditions like missing teeth or cleft lip and palate.

A laser scanning system has been used to make three-dimensional (3-D) images of the children's faces.

The team has also taken pictures of children with a range of conditions which affect their facial appearances.

Dr Chung How Kau from the University of Wales College of Medicine said about 100 children at two secondary schools in Pontypridd, south Wales, had already taken part, and the team would return to take more 3-D pictures of them over the next year.

It was something like an animation in a computer game or a film - I felt a bit like a character in Toy Story Megan, aged 11

"They're really amazed that we can move their heads all the way around - they've never looked from the top view down at their heads, or up their noses before - it's really interesting for them," he said of the children's reaction.

"It's interesting from the point of view of lay people, but it's also good for science because we can see much more now, and we can understand things better," he added.

Braces

Dr Kau said the benefits of the £60,000 laser scanning system included the fact that it was portable, and avoided invasive technology like X-ray.

Dr Kau scanned in his own face using the laser system

"The purpose of the study is, using new technology, to evaluate how the face grows with time," Dr Kau said.

He explained that it would help doctors plan surgery or other treatment for people with facial anomalies.

"We don't know, how, say moving the skeleton forward by one centimetre will affect the soft tissue. The soft tissue, the outer shell, is the more important part of the facial appearance, so by using this technology we can understand what will happen, in 3-D."

He said it could, for example, better predict how braces on a young person's teeth would affect their appearances, and there had been an interesting early discovery about the way faces develop.

"We are starting to see that growth doesn't just occur bilaterally on both sides (of the face)...growth happens on one side first, and then the other side catches up.

That might mean that we might need to change our health care intervention... we need to find a way to use that information," Dr Kau said.

Megan is one of the children who has taken part in the study

One of the children who has taken part in the study is 11-year-old Megan. She and her eight-year-old sister have a genetic condition called ectodermal dysplasia which has left them with teeth missing.

"It was a bit strange to see yourself on the screen," she said after being photographed.

"It was something like an animation in a computer game or a film - I felt a bit like a character in Toy Story.

"I'm hoping it'll help Dr Kau with his research so that he'll know more about how to make me and my sister look like other people," she added.