[The dental system and facial growth]

1. As they grow, the dental germs build their chamber, exerting tensions on a fibrillar structure facing their occlusal side or incisive edge. This structure now stretches the circular margin of the alveolus, made of chondroïd tissue. 2. The maxillary bases, of negligible volume during foetal formation and prime infancy, have to be considered as adaptive structures among genetically determined growth factors: brain, basicranium and a number of dental germs. Those factors are the real agents forming the face. 3. In case of malformation due to a lack of space, the wording "cranio-dental dysharmony" seems to be more adequate than "dento-maxillary dysharmony".