The Lynn Maxilla Rotator Combination Appliance and Lynn Archial Face Bow

This combination orthopedic traction appliance offers a new dimension in treating long faced, mouth breathing patients, who generally exhibit pre-maxillary gingival excess and lip incompetency or a short upper lip. The dynamics of excessive clockwise growth can be reversed if the physical pressures placed on the craniofacial skeletal tissues are reversed. In many instances extraction therapy or orthognatic surgery may be unnecessary to achieve acceptable occlusion and facial esthetics. Dr. Ullrich Teuscher, M.D., D.M.D., of Zurich, Switzerland published an article in the American Journal of Orthodontics in 1978, which addressed a growth related traction treatment of Class II facial patterns. This appliance expands on this concept with important modifications. There are many causes of a "long face". One of the primary causes, however, is upper airway compromise. This may be a result of enlargement of the tonsils, adenoids, nasal tubinates, nasal polyps, hemangiomas, allergies, nasal septal deviations, nasal floor narrowing, etc. In our Westernized society of "non-chewing" youths (most fast or processed food we eat today is practically pre-chewed or per-digested), the orofacial musculature is lacking in functional use. This condition further enhances the lack of full facial development because the necessary forces transmitted from the masticatory musculature to the facial skeleton are lacking. Therefore, if a person has tendencies toward a narrow-face, nasal vault, etc., there is no chance that nature's inherent counterbalancing forces will have any positive effect in resolving the airway compromise by producing wide or broad dental arches, because these forces do not exist anymore as a result of no necessity to chew food. The purpose of this paper is not to study the etiology of upper respiratory compromise, but rather to suggest a possible treatment alternative which sequentially counteracts the undesirable forces placed on the craniofacial skeleton by the aforementioned pathologies or environmental conditions.