Growth and Development of the Middle Face

¹ Universitätsklinik und Poliklinik für Mund-, Zahn-, und Kieferkrankheiten Bonn/Rhein, Germany

It was proved, with serial X-ray examinations and withh statistics of 541 cases of normal bite and anomalies, what influences exist between growth and development of the middle face and the morphology of the oral region. The chief concern was with the effects of the position of the nasal floor: (1) In cases of progeny and open bite, the nasal floor lies relatively deep and backward to the occipital basis; it moves during development in this direction. It thereby narrows the room for the ascending tongue, and this takes as expanding body either the mandible in forward direction and produces a progeny, or it is situated between the dental arches and causes an open bite. (2) In cases of distocclusion and excessive overbite, we find the nasal floor situated in the mean higher and more frontal than in normal cases. The resulting reduction of the expanding body action of the tongue makes possible, at least partially, an interpretation of the occurrence of distocclusion and excessive overbite. Moreover, a correlation between the horizontal space of the pharyngeal cavity and the tendency to swelling of the lymphatic pharyngeal area was recognized. The results of the examinations undertaken demand that therapeutic methods be found for the normal development and for the alteration of the irregular middle face.