Page 816 - My FlipBook

814 THE DEVELOPMENT OF ESTHETIC FACIAL CONTOURS.

hardlv be measured—resulting in a slight filling out or depression of
certain contours, will often beautify to a remarkable degree the ap-
pearance of a face that would otherwise be quite plain and unattractive.
This is true of all the more common cases of upper protrusion and
retrusion which show an abnormal prominence or depression along the
upper as well as the lower portion of the upper lip, and especially of
those which seem to involve the entire intermaxillary process, influ-
encing the anteroposterior position of the wings and end of the nose.
In cases of protrusion, by applying a retracting force especially
directed to the roots and crowns of the anterior teeth, the surrounding
alveolar process and anterior portion of the maxillae will be forced
back, allowing the upper lip to fall into a more graceful and easy pose,
leaving the nostrils less broad and open, the upward curve of the nose
straightened, and its pug-like appearance removed.
When an upper protrusion is due alone to a labial inclination of
large crowded teeth, with no marked protrusion over the apical zone, or
in segment 1, the extraction of the first or second bicuspids is indicated,
and the application of force to the crowns at such points and in such
direction as will best overcome the malposition.
Many instances have arisen, in the practice of dentists who were
opposed to the extraction of teeth, where the above condition has
actually been produced in the operation of crowding irregular teeth into
alignment that were too large for an already perfectly harmonious
maxillary arch. (See Figs. 875 to 878 inclusive, in section V.)
There are innumerable instances where a labial inclination of both
the upper and lower anterior teeth produces a pronounced protrusion of
the lips with a very unpleasant expression in their management, espe-
cially if in occlusion the lower anterior teeth are even with, or in front
of, the uppers. The fact that the most natural occluding position of
the lower front teeth is somewhat posterior to the upper teeth permits
the graceful curve of the lower lip which is so necessary to the esthetic
perfection of the chin.
In order to correct a pronounced facial deformity of this character
produced by large teeth crowded into arches that are too small for them,
but otherwise harmonious in size, it will often be necessary to extract a
bicuspid from each side from both the upper and lower jaws. Some-
times the extraction from the lower of a central incisor will be suf-
ficient.
Instances frequently arise where the position and labial inclination
of the upper anterior teeth produce a relative protrusion of the incisal
zone and a contrusion of the apical, with a protrusion of the lower
portion of the upper lip and a slight depression of the upper portion,
deepening the naso-labial depressions. If the depression of segment 1