Racial differences in dimensional traits of the human face.

1. Race is difficult to define at best and references to groups are more accurately made on the basis of ethnic groups that are bound by some common bond, such as Swedish Whites, American Whites, etc. 2. The quantifiable differences in the somatic craniofacial region of ethnic groups residing for several generations in the same or similar geographic areas are small. 3. The evidence supports a geographical effect on the most frequently used quantifiable angular measurements of the somatic facial profile of the major racial groups. 4. Cephalofacial morphology is affected by many factors including genetics, function and temperature. 5. There are mean differences in the quantifiable traits of the face of some ethnic groups. The differences in means within ethnic or racial groups are often greater than the differences in means among ethnic or racial groups. 6. The differences in means of traits of the somatic facial skeleton among or between ethnic groups are usually very small with an enormous degree of overlap. 7. The parameters of the face that are closer to the alveolar and dental areas show the greatest differences among ethnic and racial groups.