The Palate and Down's Syndrome

ALMOST from the time of its first description Down's syndrome (mongolism) has been associated with abnormal palatal shape and size – so much so that Benda1 included the palate among 9 areas of developmental retardation most conspicuous in mongolism, and Oster2 described high narrow palate as 1 of 10 cardinal signs of Down's syndrome. Yet these anomalies have received relatively little attention. In nearly every clinical study in which palatal shape has been noted, observations have been nonmetrical and accordingly susceptible to subjective error. In the present series metrical information was obtained on palates of patients with mongolism and compared . . .