Jaws: The Story of a Hidden Epidemic

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In fact you need to know that both the asymmetric and flat faces are just consequences of a deeper problem.

Flat Face: you have a long and flat face. Your cheekbones are not evident and your jaw is underdeveloped. Number two is a case-study of twins. One twin was given orthotropics and myofascial therapy, and another twin was given standard orthodontics. The variation in jaw size, facial structure, and malocclusion was dramatic. This is "good" evidence from my perspective. Parents should watch their kids for signs that their jaw development is going in the wrong direction, such as mouth breathing, “gummy” smiles, trouble sleeping and morning tiredness. Snoring in kids is a strong danger sign. Get help early. So yes.. there is a structure and function relationship… but it is function that creates the structure.What we do have are natural experiments, anecdotal evidence and speculation. For example, in Jaws, we show pictures of a grandfather who was raised in a traditional habitat with traditional diets, then his son who moved into an industrialized area – with much softer foods – and you can see the deterioration of the son’s face and jaws. His grandchild then had even more problematic jaws. The bony structures that make the eye region are the frontal bone superiorly, nasal bone medially, maxilla inferomedially and the zygoma makes the inferior and the lateral part of the orbit. The central premise is an idea that has been popular with anthropologists and some fringe orthodontists: crooked teeth are a function of undersized jaws due to changes in diet and lifestyle. Kahn and Ehrlich marshal their supportive evidence, but for anyone who wants to read about this, I would instead recommend Nestor's book "Breath." This book seems to have more of a how-to emphasis on how to encourage jaw growth in children, but they rarely include children's ages, which make the advice hard to follow. They recommend `hard' food and a 'pre-industrial diet,' but they don't say what this is, or what age these foods can be given. They only give lip service to women who cannot breast feed; I think that this would be a difficult read for women who had had a low supply, or required a medicine that interfered with lactation. During the development of the fetus, the external human face starts to develop during the fourth through sixth weeks. The face derives from the first two pharyngeal arches, neural crest cells, frontonasal prominence, medial nasal prominence, oropharyngeal membrane, and lateral nasal prominence. During week four of development, the oropharyngeal membrane breaks down to create the oral cavity. The frontonasal prominencesdevelop into the forehead, bridge of the nose, medial nasal prominences, and lateral nasal prominences. The medial nasal prominences will further develop into the primary palate, philtrum, upper four incisors, and parts of the jaw. The lateral nasal prominences develop into the sides of the nose. The first pharyngeal arch will form the cheeks, lateral upper lip, lateral upper jaw, and secondary palate. The second pharyngeal arch will form the lower lip and jaw. All these structures form bilaterally and migrate toward the midline before fusing. [2]

Image 2. Proper facial structure and posture. This young man has had a very active life with minimal processed foods. He currently has all his teeth, including wisdom teeth, and did not need orthodontic treatment. (Photo by Steven Green.)The chin-up exercise lifts up the facial muscles in the lower half of your face, including your jaw. Kahn is a dentist who specializes in “forwarddontics.” Her graduate work focused on physical anthropology and human craniofacial growth and development. In her practice she uses palate widening and other modalities to correct dental deformities.

Ron Pinhasi, Vered Eshed, and N. von Cramon-Taubadel. 2015. Incongruity between affinity patterns based on mandibular and lower dental dimensions following the transition to agriculture in the Near East, Anatolia and Europe. PLoS ONE 10:e0117301. doi:0117310.0111371/. Watch carefully how much the jaw muscles are developed. You can see a proper cavity. Look at the protruding cheekbones. The face is smooth and flat, but it is alive and there’s plentiful of muscles that create cavities in the skin. This is sexy! I have certainly never spent more time thinking about my breathing and the position of my jaws and tongue while reading than I did while reading this book.

Bones of the face

The people Dr. Price studied had no cavities. Was this because they ate hard foods? They had perfect eyesight and hearing. They did not suffer from chronic or even infectious disease. The women had wide hips and gave birth to children with ease. Will all these gifts be ours if we just add sand to the polenta? A. Qureshi, R. D. Ballard, and H. S. Nelson. 2003. Obstructive sleep apnea. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 112: 643–651.