A Good Education
In visiting with a recent graduate of a very prestigious university, I became aware that this very intelligent young orthodontist had not been taught basic growth information. He informed me that he had never measured the anatomy of the posterior portion of the jaws.
Since he had never measured the increments of effective vertical condylar growth and compared this measurement to the amount of vertical molar growth, of course he had no idea of what causes the mandible to rotate forward and backward. He has no idea of what growth increments and tooth movement cause the mandible to translate forward.
He could not have known that rotations of the mandible can be either created or prevented, depending upon the quality of treatment. In high angle cases posterior rotation can be caused by moving molars vertically. In low angle cases a forward rotation can be prevented by moving molars vertically. Unless we understand the mechanism of jaw movement we cannot analyze the results of growth or the results of treatment.
This young man chose a prestigious school to get a first class education, paid his hard earned money, had complete confidence that he was receiving a quality education, and graduated thinking he was uniquely prepared to proudly render an excellent service to the public.
Also, at a meeting in recent days (February, 2000), I had the privilege of visiting with two young ladies who were halfway through their first year of graduate training at another prestigious school. They stated that they had measured from the gonion angle to SN, but were unaware that this measurement had an important relationship with the vertical growth of the molars. Therefore they did not know what causes the mandible to rotate forward and backward, and what causes the mandible to not rotate as it grows downward. Do not these highly intelligent young students have a right to be taught these anatomical principles?
It seems reasonable to deduce that the professors at these prestigious schools also did not know what causes the mandible to rotate forward and backward and have no knowledge of "cause and effect."
At the conference with the young man mentioned above, he showed me two treated cases which were superbly treated. This illustrates that one does not have to understand the minute details to render a first class service to the public, but schools have a responsibility of teaching these principles.
If students are not taught the "WHYs" – have not been taught principles pertaining to the growth of the causative increments in the first six months of their training, they have been grossly "short changed"!!!
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