Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-11-02


Our descendants may be a rela-
lively jawiess race! Our own jaws in
1871 are already weaker and changed
in appearance from our grandparents
jaws only half a century ago.
The distinguished English anthro-
pelogist. Sir Arthur Keith. has studied
thousands of skulls and jaw-bones of
antiquity as well as Of the present
race Of men. His researches show IL
was about 200 years ago that changes
in the face became noticeable.
The cheek bones have become
sunken. The palate Is contracted. and
may have brought about a change In
the quality Of the human voice. The
jaws have become deformed, when
gagged by old standards. The teeth
have become crowded. displaced, and
defective.
The teeth of modern men are furn-
ishing scientists a clue to the pro-
found changes which have taken place
in the human face in the past. 1t
should also be noted that these changes
are apparently progressing at a rapid
rate. and as yet no way has been dis
covered to halt them.
we are going 10 have some funny look
ing descendants and not so many gen.
erations in the future as a few optim-
istic souls might like TO imagine.
Professor Peter ]. Brekhus. OF the
HSchool of Dentistry Of the University
Iof Minnesota. at Minneapolis. has Just
lshed a book which shows in startling d,
what has been happening TO human teeth
how they are affecting the face. His boo
titled Teeth: Their Past, Present, and p
able Future"
Teeth have a noble past. At present
are pretty uniformly bad. And their fu
is a dismal one.
Only co OF men in the Stone Age. fol
stance, had decayed tooth. Today nearly
Of men have decayed teeth-and many do
have any teeth left to decay
The lower Jaws Of practically all Stone
men were lined up squarely under the u
Jaws Today. the upper teeth. almost wit
exception. protride or overlap in front Of
lower jaw Obviously. the lower jaw is re
ing, and specialists believe this increases
steady degeneration Of human teeth. AS
lower jaws recede. the human face is get
to look more and more like chinless squi
The gradual disappearance of the Il
jaw is also crowding the teeth. This not
makes them irregular forces some TO con
sidewise, and at times even makes one {
inside OF the mouths away from the other {,
but more Importantly it keeps the teeth in
two jaws from jibing.
The rough surfaces OF the teeth in
lower jaw should fit in neatly into the
spots in the upper teeth. This occlusion OF
teeth, as IL is termed, is necessary for
chewing and also for keeping the teet
good condition. When lower tooth does
jibe correctly with the upper teeth, each
forces them a little out of line and may
them still more out of place.
The teeth are easily worked around in
fashion. They are not firmly rooted into
jaw-bone, despite the impression one may
= when a few are extracted The teeth
loosely cushioned by special tissues, and
be easily wobbled one way or another. A
mobile engines mounted on rubber are
similar to the way teeth are in the jaws
Each time we bite the teeth settle doN
fraction of an inch in their cushion noun
And II we bite bit crookedly-as the mo
receding jaw-bone makes inevitable for
Of us-the teeth arc pushed out of line vi
there is perfect occlusion between the II
and lower teeth.