[Interception in the primary dentition: mastication and neuro-occlusal rehabilitation]

After evoking the characteristics of masticatory movements, their control and their adaptability, a review of the literature illustrates how the masticatory work and its variations can influence the dentoalveolar, as well as the maxillary growth, by adapting the morphological structures to the functional context. The conceptions of Planas, and especially his "neuro-occlusal rehabilitation", are widely explained: unilateral alternate mastication, "Planas' Functional Masticatory Angles (PFMA) and the vertical dimension, the "atrophies" of maxillary development resulting from reduced mastication, the "dominant unilateral mastication syndrome" and, of course, all the original treatments introduced by Planas. These specific orthodontic treatments can be applied as interceptive procedure as early as during the deciduous dentition. The selective occlusal grinding, implemented to reduce and balance the "PFMA", and the expansion devices using "running track plates" are described in concepts and clinical uses. Planas' Class II treatments of Class II, also using "direct occlusal bonded tracks" and several mandibular propulsion auxiliaries are explained as well as the early treatments of lateral cross-bite and the use of the "Equiplan". Mastication, the first of the functions assigned and carried out by the masticatory apparatus, is a genuine "functional matrix" able to stimulate the growth of the dental arches and of the maxillaries. When perfectly understood and applied, the "neuro-occlusal rehabilitation" according to Planas allows to restore a functional balance for the masticatory apparatus from an early age, and subsequently, reorientates growth to a morphological normalization.