FIG. 92.
In no symptoms is degeneracy so evident as in the stigmata resultant on hypertrophy of the alveolar process. This occurs at all ages, but more particularly at the period of development of the permanent set of teeth. The entire alveolar process may become involved (Fig. [92]), or only a portion (Fig. [93]).
Hypertrophy of the alveolar process is the result of irritation incident upon eruption and the shedding of the temporary teeth, and eruption of the permanent teeth.
FIG. 93.
Laryngologists, rhinologists, and neurologists claim that certain vaults are deformities; in reality the alveolar process is hypertrophied. The jaws, as a whole, owing to an unstable and ill-balanced nervous system, are liable to become excessively developed, as well as arrested in development. Excessive development of the superior maxilla is evinced by a fulness of the upper lip. In these cases the upper maxilla is too large for the lower, and stands out beyond it. The lower may be quite normal. When there is simply a want of proportion between the two jaws, it is due to the diminutive or excessive size of one while the other is normal. The criterion in these cases must be the facial angle. The upper jaw is usually in harmony with the skeleton, while the lower jaw depends for its size largely upon function, its size being the result of accident rather than the result of general proportions.