| Abstract: | Varying amounts of the cartilaginous nasal septum were resected in 15 growing rabbits at 21 days of age. Ten additional rabbits were used as unoperated on and operated on controls. The postoperative survival ranged from 105 to 145 days. Within 60 to 90 days postoperatively, antemortem findings were noted in the experimental animals of a shorter snout and overeruption and malocclusion of the incisors. Postmortem gross findings of the dissected, sectioned and x-rayed skulls of the experimental animals revealed that the snout was shorter and smaller with a severe relative mandibular prognathism, the nasal and premaxillary bones were smaller, the nasal cavity and piriform aperture were smaller than in the control animals. As a result of the shorter snout the upper incisors were lingual to the lower incisors. This was the reverse of the normal findings. In addition, the incisors were overerupted, malaligned and fractured. At the posterior border of the septal defect a marked downward and forward deflection of the nasal bones was noted. This was in contrast to the smoothly curved dorsum of the operated on and unoperated on control animals. The extent and severity of the deformity varied approximately with the extent of the septal defect. |
