[Recurrence of mandibular prognathism caused by disorders of cervical stasis]

Cranio-facial morphogenesis and (in particular) maxillo-mandibular relations are linked with cervico-cephalic stasic. In cases of mandibular prognathia in the presence of cervical lordosis, treatment should thus take this special feature into account and seek for preference anterior maxillo-mandibular adaptation (associated when necessary with partial glossectomy), rather than the correction of skeletal abnormalities linked to a problem of position which cannot be influenced. At a time when the most highly qualified American orthodontists accept the possibility of altering basic bone features and recommend the replacement of the term orthodontics by more suitable expression dento-facial orthopaedics (10), attention must also be paid to the possibilities of true cervico-cephalic orthopaedics (in the context of general orthopaedics (17, 18, 19, 20)).