AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ORTHODONTISTS

President’s page “Lest we forget"

Sr N~IC the l)irtll of orthodontics as a, specialty in 1!100, when tllc‘ .\nic~ric*atr Association of Orthodontists had it,s beginning, gy)\\?ll ;mtl tlc\-c~lo~,lllc~lll trirs

been a basic study in the field of orthodontics. In 1901, at the first scientific meeting of tlic .2mc~rican Soc+ty of (tt~tllotlot~-

tists, Talhot of Bilosi, Mississippi, delivered an esc~c~llcnt trcatisc cntitl(~tl ‘$1 )is- proportionate l)c\-elopment of the Vppcr and I,owc~r .Iaws, ;I hIctIloc1 of I M tbl’- ruining Their Supra- or Sub-normalit)-.”

From the beginning, orthodontic research incl utlcd it l~)atl rangy3 ot’ s&M if icd investigations involving such diverse clemcnts as physics, histology, m~hanic~s, biology, anatomy, physiology, metallurgy, anthropology, ~~~~~h;~l~~~~~~~tI~i~s. ant! c,l~~ctronl?;o~l,~~I~li~. Most of these, in turn. arc intimatcIly related to t IN> g*owt ii alltl development of tll? dcntition ;Illtl ill1 its iISSWi~t(Yl I1~‘1lI’O11lllS~‘Illill’ ;Ititl

skc~lrt,al structures, and it is in this area that orthodontics has Ilit< iis c+lli~t responsibility and made its greatest scientific contributions to mc~dicGnc~ ;rt~tl dentistry.

Marc than 50 years ago I~awrcncc Baker of llar~;lld 17nivcrsity l)rc~st~ntc~d a remarkable piece of research entitled “A Preliminary Stud\- of thr lnflllc~ric+c~ of the Forces of Occlusion on the J>evclopmcnt of the Bones of the Skull. *’

lAoyd Lowric of Chicago, speakin g on drvclopment, said : “ I think w(l will ha\c to change our mode of observation b(~forr we can drtcrminc~ what is 111~~ normal width and size of the arch at various apex”

(~“onstantly, throughout the literature of orthodontics, one finds gr(ta t (‘I~I- phasis on growth and development. Outstanding men in operative or cdlinic*a I orthodontics down t hrongh our great heritage havc~ ha(l a IIIPRI~H of dotcbrmilring it 11Olwl of growth.

In the early 1920’s Paul Simon ot’ Berlin introduccacl a systcln of c~unlbini~lg photographs, graphs, and oriented casts to document t h(h ~w&~tll and dtW+q,- ment of the arches as well as the influence escrtcd upon it by orthodontic nlcatls.

In a later day the field of roentgenographic c~cy)halomctricR)~l~(~trics has brcn (w~;IY~P~~

to carry further that which Simon was striving for, iI,ltl wit,11 grclatt.1, and sinll)l(lr* accuracy. Throughout the field of orthodontics, growth and dcvelopmcbnt has

been a basic study to the lasting credit of those ~110 lli~~(~ dcvotrfl t hci r l)t’oJ‘(is- sional livc3 to an ideill.

Tllc specialty acknowledges with gratitude the work of all of them orthodon- tic investigators, past and present, in this traditional area ot’ orthodontic x- sponsibility.

John W. IZichmond.

Golden Anniversary Luncheon of the American Association of Orthodontists, Palmer House, C’hicago, Illinois, May 4, 1964.