Degeneracy: Its Causes, Signs and ResultsTalbot, Eugene S. (Eugene Solomon)
History
Degeneracy: Its Causes, Signs and Results
Talbot, Eugene S. (Eugene Solomon)
Abnormalities, Human; Degeneration; Heredity, Human
When the upper jaw is normal, or smaller than the lower, the extent of the
posterior portion is determined by the occlusion of the first permanent
molar, which keeps the alveolar processes in permanent relation to each
other at this point and allows freedom of development in front. If the
occlusion be not normal, the upper jaw and alveolar process will develop
laterally as well as anteriorly. The teeth of the anterior columns may
either stand vertically, or they may be turned in toward the lower
incisors. The latter defect is produced by the action of the lips. When
the cuspids are in their normal position the upper incisors form a larger
arch than the lower, and this permits of their being turned inward; but
when the cuspids have moved so far forward that they are not normally
interlocked with the lower teeth, the incisors are too crowded to permit
this. While the jaws are growing smaller the teeth tend to cause reversion
to the original form. Arrest of development of the superior maxilla is
always associated with marked depression at the alæ of the nose, producing
the appearance of having been hollowed out from a point at the floor of
the orbit to the grinding surface of the lower teeth (Fig. 94).
[Illustration: FIG. 95.]
Arrest of the lower jaw (Fig. 95) is common among degenerates. This
consists of a shortening of the body of the jaw. Sometimes it is arrested
to such an extent that there is apparently no chin. About 50 per cent. of
criminals of Elmira, New York, have this deformity. The following table
shows the number of deformities of the jaws and teeth which I have found
among some of the degenerate classes.
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