[Dissertations 25 years after the date 36. Dental development and facial growth during adolescence]

Dental development does not end with the shedding of the deciduous dentition. Partly as a result of the continuing facial growth up to adulthood, adaptations in the position of the teeth and the occlusion occur after the second phase of eruption. The dissertation Gebissentwicklung und Gesichtswachstum in der Adoleszenz, from 1988, was concerned with research into tooth development, facial growth and their interrelationship during the first decade after the second phase of tooth eruption. Changes in the dental arches go together with changes in the occlusion. These physiological changes in the dentition can largely be attributed to the shift of the mandibular dental arch to a more ventral position, with respect to the maxillary dental arch. Facial growth and changes in the morphology of the craniofacial skeleton up to adulthood are especially a result of adaptations which take place under the floor of the nose and as a result of the enlargement of the mandible. Later research in patients up to the age of approximately 40 years, revealed that these dental and skeletal changes continued to occur.