Diagnosis and treatment of maxillomandibular dysplasias

Skeletal dysplasia of the maxilla and/or mandible is responsible for prognathism or retrognathism. The severity of either condition is in direct proportion to the degree of dysplasia noted within each jaw. Mandibular prognathism is real or apparent. Some of the patients described in this article demonstrate this quite clearly when the jaws are analyzed individually and related to each other. A differential diagnosis is essential to determine whether the abnormality is in the maxilla or the mandible, or both. When recognized early in the formative years, it permits the orthodontist to employ guidance and full therapy procedures in a treatment plan that is programmed to include surgical procedures specifically for the skeletal aberration to be corrected. The treatment skills of the orthodontist and his knowledge of growth of the skeletal and dental structures aid in diagnosis and treatment planning in the areas of both orthodontics and surgery. Close cooperation between the orthodontist and the surgeon permits a more definitive resolution of the existing and potential skeletal and dentoalveolar abnormalities.