DEPARTMENT OF REVIEWS AND ABSTRACTS

Edited by DR. J. A. SALZMANN, New York City

A11 inquiries regarding information OR reviews and abstracts should be directed to
the respective authors. Articles or books for review in this department should be
addressed to Dr. J. A. Salzmann, 654 Madison Ave., New York $1, New York.

Begg Orthodontic Theory and Technique

By P. R. Begg. Philadelphia, 2965, W. B. Saunders Company.

Begg has made an important contribution to the practice of orthodontics.

He explains and illustrates his technique so that the student and practitioner
can benefit. His text would have been more effective, however, if he had not fol-
lowed in the well-worn tracks that orthodontists with techniques to present have
pursued since the early days of Angle. We refer to the emotional, evangelical
approach and the air of mystery that dates back to 1929, when Angle published
his article entitled “The Latest and Best in Orthodontic Mechanism” (Dental
Cosmos 70: 1143-1158; 71: 164-174, 260-270, 409-421, 1929).
There is no need for Begg, or anyone else, to try to convince his audience
that his technique is the only one that produces good results. It must be realized
that the fact that one has a different method of treatment does not, per se,
indicate that all other methods are wrong. There is a tendency also to claim too
much for one’s own technique while pointing up the faults, real and imaginary,
of all other techniques.
The author uses the term textbook normal to indicate malocclusion and refers
to the attrited dentition of Stone Age man as normal. The Stone Age extended
over one million years and includes many phases in the evolutionary emergence
of man. The edge-to-edge occlusion was found in early man, who had a massive
jaw, no chin, and a pronounced facial prognathism.
The classic human occlusion as we know it today has been evolving for al-
most half a million years. The Australian aborigines, who belong to the Talgai
group, show an edge-to-edge occlusion only after the teeth become attrited. This
is due to the quality of the food that they consumed and the manner in which it
was eaten without the help of knife a,nd fork.
To say that the occlusion of modern man shows crowding of mandibular in-
cisors because of the overbite of the maxillary incisors is to ignore the crowded
mandibular incisors frequently seen in primitive man and in open-bite occlusion
in modern man. In his Fig. 42, Begg shows the crowded condition in jaws with
attrited teeth.
The attrited dentition is an artifact,; while what. Begg chooses to call textbook
normal is actually the normal for modern man. Furthermore, the modern concept
547
of normal occlusion is not a rigid formula but takes illto account a wide range
of variability according to age, sex, ethnic background, function, and other
I’actors.
Begg bases the action of the light-wire mechanism on the differential and
optimum force for moving teet,h according to Storey and Smith. This goes along
also with the findings of Gndstedt, Oppenheim, A. &I. Schwartz, Gottlieb and
Orban, Reitan, and others. Howcvcr, Storey and Smith’s finding that the opt,i-
mum force for moving canine teeth is between 350 and 200 grams cannot be
accepted unless one considers that the movement of the canine depends also on
the axial positional relationship of the canines to the molar teeth, the masticator>
pattern, occlusal mannerisms, abnormal pressure habits, and other factors.
The cases illustrated by the Kesling and Rocke orthodontic group are well
treated, as one would expect of cases treated by experienced orthodontists. The
reader would have gained much if explanatory text had been included on how
the appliances were used and if the captions to the illustrations had been written
in greater detail. Case 1 of the Kesling-Rocke group is that of a Class II, Dlrlslon
2 malocclusion in which four first premolars were extracted. The molars still are
close to a Class II relationship after completion of treatment. The cephalometric
tracings show a change in the Frankfort mandibular incisor angle (FMIA)
from 56 degrees before treatment to 53.5 degrees after t.reatment. The benefits
of extracting teeth in this case are not, given.
In his chapter on cephalometric appraisal of the light-wire technique Raleigh
T. Williams states that torquing is not required. In the earlier parts of the book
Begg illustrates his method of producin g torque with the round wire.
Williams presents two case reports. One is a Class II, Division 1 case with
an F,MIA of 50 degrees at the beginning and 51 degrees at the completion of
treatment,. The same angulation of the mandibular incisors to the Frankfort
plane is to be found also in his second case. The A-P line used by Williams is not
constant, since the ANB difference is reduced in treatment, thus changing the
relationship of point A to pogonion. Nowhere in this book do we find any refer-
ence to the short treatment time claimed by those who follow the Begg system.
This reviewer found no basis for the extraordinary qualities which Begg and
Williams attribute to this appliance to the exclusion of other appliances.
While Begg cautions the reader that one cannot learn to use this exacting
technique merely by reading his book, he does present much which will be found
instructire and uscfnl b- those who practice orthodontics.
J. A. Xcrlxma~nn

Malpractice law Dissected for Quick Grasping

By Charles L. Cusunaano. Xew York, 1963, Medicine-Law Press. 132 pages.

Price, $10.00.

This book is intended primarily for the physician, although there are short
chapters on the liability of nurses and hospitals and six pages on the liability of