The Washington times., 1919-04-06

beauty Of distinctly Anglo-Saxon type, with
dental arches rather long from back to
front? Shall he select as q model the
famous Madame Lima CaValieEi, perfect
example Of the Italian type, in which the
Jaws as well as the face generally are
somewhat broad In proportion to length
from back to front?
Shall he choose a wistful, childlike type
Of beauty, like Airline Chase, with slight,
delicate jaws? Shall he take as his ideal
a heavy-jawed type Of beauty like Laura
Nelson Hall, type much like the original
Gibson girl and quite widely admired?
These are points upon which the best
orthodontists have differed and upon which
there is considerable uncertainty. In the
current issue Of the Dental Cosmos DR..
Percy Norman Williams, New York dem
tist, advances an interesting argument in
support Of what he believes to be the true
way Of determining the natural form Of den-
tai arch, which the orthodontist should fol-
low in correcting defective face.
DR.. Williams argues that the
true form of the dental arch. can Y
be fixed by measuring the exist
ing teeth Of the person to be
treated. It is we'll known that
there are several types Of teeth
belonging to the different races Of
humanity. In one type the teeth
are short and broad, in another
type they are long and narrow,
and so forth. According to the
Williams rule, II the teeth are
broad the distance across the jaw
from molar to molar should be
proportionately broad, and II they
are narrow the width Of the arch should
be correspondingly narrow.
'It is impossible for the operator to rem
der orthodontic treatment and hope to OBJ
tain satisfactory results when such a
course of treatment is based on his own
individual judgment" says this expert.
ANY opinion which rests upon his con-
ception of what is artistic is absolutely
precluded, also he is decidedly limited in
the arrangement of teeth. He is not free
TO shape the arch according to principles
in art or to his own personal taste, because
the shape and size Of the teeth have al
ready determined this, which completely
eliminates individual judgment
"The relation of the teeth to the jaw
iG much the same as that of the fingers
to the hand: that is, with long, tapering
fingers we would have long slender hand,
and with broad, short fingers we would
have broad, short hand. Applying this
. principle to the teeth we would expect
with short, broad teeth to. have a broad
Jaw and II the teeth harmonic with other
physical characteristics, the individual
would have a full, round face. On the
other hand, long, narrow teeth would
make a narrow jaw, which would be found
ir a person with a long, narrow face"
Dr. Williams says that the distance
through the teeth fixes the ideal distance
across the jaw between the first perma-
lent molars. The proportion Of one meas
urement to the other should be fourteen
TO nine. This gives the principal factor
which the Orthodontist should use in cor.
recting a defective jaw.
In measuring the width Of the teeth,
the orthodontist must construct an average
from a complete set Of teeth for each
individual patient. II any teeth are miss.
ing he must calculate the size Of the miss.
ing teeth from those that remain and take
that into account in his final calculation
The essential point however is that q
broad tooth must have a broad arch and
a narrow tooth a narrow arch.
When the width of the arch between
the two first molars has been determined