Department of Orthodontic Abstracts and Reviews

Edited by

DR. EGON NEUSTADT AND DR. JOSEPH D. E~Y, NEW YORK CITY

All communications concerning further information about abstracted material and the accept- ance of articles or books for consideration in this department should be addressed to Dr. Egon

Neustadt, 133 East Fifty-Eighth Street. New York City.

Clinic Pa&hology of the Jaws. (With a Histologic and Roentgen Study of Practical Cases.) By Kurt H. Thoma, D.M.D., 643 pages, 423 figures, and 8 color plates, 1934, Baltimore, Charles C. Thomas.

The first chapter of the book is the most interesting one from the stand- point of the orthodontist. it. is entitled “Malformations of the Head, Fme, and Jaws, ” and it contains severa, subdivisions which take up the different tYP@ of deformities according to their etiology. Here belong the deformities of the jaws which are caused by abnormal development, such as harelip, cleft palate, maerognathia and micrognathia, malocclusions, and the congenital absence of teeth. In adherence to the etiologic viewpoint, which is followed throughout the presentation, Dr. Korkhaus’s classification of malocclusions is used, which is somewhat similar to that of Kantorowicz.*

Then local conditions causing abnormal development of the jaws are dis- cussed. They relate to feeding methods and to those habits which interfere with the physiologic functioning of the jaws. Stallard’s work on sleeping habits is cited, Schwarz’s work on the carriage of the head, and the experiments of Wankewicz who produced a protrusion of the jaws by injecting paraffin into the tongues of dogs.

Among the general diseases which cause malformation of the jaws there are imperfect bone formation, dwarfism, creatinism, and gigantism. An atrophy of the jaw bone may occur through pressure, disuse, senility, or neurotrophic changes.

Fractures of the maxilla and the mandible are differentiated into path- ologic fractures (in which the fragility of the bone is caused by pathologic con- ditions, tumors, etc.), and fractures due to trauma.

One chapter is devoted to infections of the jaws and their adjacent bones (sinuses). It covers a wide field because mandible and maxilla are “expo~d to infection more frequently than any other bone in the body. ” Infections are distinguished according to their source (hematogenous or odontogenic) ; accord- ing to their location (periostitis, osteitis, osteomyelitis) ; according to their dura- tion (acute and chronic); and according to their etiology (tuberculosis, syph- ilis, etc.). All these types receive a thorough description of their pathology, clinical symptoms, roentgen findings, therapy and its results. A series of in- structive case reports is added to each group.

*INTERNAT. J. ORTHO. 2@: 835, 1934.

294

Orthodontic Abstracts and R~vitws 295

The orthodontist’s special attention is again aroused by the section on endo- crine disturbances. After some introductory remarks showing the general rela- tions of the various glands, these are considered individually, namely, the thyroid gland, the parathyroids, the thymus gland, and the hypophysis cerebri (pituitary gland). Some very pertinent data are given on acromegaly, osteitis fibrosa, and bone osteoporosis. The effects of nutritional disbalance (avitaminosis, calcium phosphorus metabolism, etc.) are demonstrated in cases of scurvy, rickets, and osteomalacia. Some rare diseases of uncertain etiology are found in Paget’s disease (osteitis deformans) and leontiasis.

There a.re well rounded-out chapters on cysts, benign tumors, and oral neo- plasms.

Dr. Thoma’s book is an outstanding contribution to dental literature. There is hardly a phase in jaw pathology which is not covered thoroughly and au- thoritatively. An unusual feature is presented by the abundant case histories, which will appeal to all those whose inclinations lean toward the clinical. and practical aspects of dentistry. More than 400 splendid illustrations accompany the text, among them some very fine reproductions of x-ray pictures. An ap- pendix includes the principles of routine laboratory staining. The compl&e- ness and systematic arrangement make this volume an ideal reference book. This purpose is aided by an exhaustive table of contents, an index of the text,, a separate index of case histories, and a most comprehensive bibliography of American and foreign literature, which is appended to each cha,pter. Cover, paper, and print of the volume are of the finest quality.

~~~ti@l af 6 help After Traa. Abstracted from : tiber DentifQation nilch Traumen, by Dr. Wenzel. Deutsche Zahnaerztliche Woehensehrift, December, 1934.

It is a well-known fact that pulps have a tendency to calcify with advanc- ing years. The pulp chamber then disappears entirely and is f&led with dentin. These conditions are so frequently found in senile dent&ions that they may al- most be called physiologic. They are present in all or, at least, in several teeth of one mouth.

Calcifications, however, which are due to a traumatic injury involve rarely more than one to&h. They are found in comparatively young people. In all the cases exa.mined, anterior teeth were involved, but the possibility of similar happenings on the premolars should not be discounted.

Calcifying changes in the pulp tissue apparently occur quit.e rapidly. The canals of the maxillary central incisors of a young girl (aged twelve years) were found to be almost entirely obliterated after one’and three-quarters gears

following the trauma. In some instances, the caloif%cation is not detected until much later, and the traumatic etiology is then not evident.

It is undetermined why in one case degeneration and neorosis of the puIp set in under acute inflammatory reaction (and this is, as we know, the most fre- quent result), while in another case the youthful pulp is stimulated to a re- generative activity which ends up with the obliteration of the pulp canal. In