Palatal growth studied on human autopsy material

The postnatal development of the hard palate was studied by conventional histologic and microradiographic means on autopsy material from thirty-three boys and twenty-seven girls aged 0 to 18 years. The findings indicated that growth in length of the hard palate until the age of 13 to 15 was due to growth in the transverse suture and to apposition on the posterior margin of the palate. After this age the sutural growth was found to cease, whereas the apposition seemed to continue for some years. During the postnatal development the morphology of the transverse suture changed. At birth the suture was broad and slightly sinuous; later it developed into a typical squamous suture, the palatine part covering the maxillary part. During puberty the course of the suture was again slightly sinuous. The importance of this change for the vertical growth of the hard palate was discussed. It was pointed out that the lowering of the posterior part of the palate was possibly caused by remodeling rather than by lowering of the anterior part of the palate.