Lectures by John Mew
The Cause & Cure of Malocclusion: A Guide to Orthotropics
This lecture series is a comprehensive overview of orthotropics – follow the full lecture series by subscribing to our patreon channel or to the Orthotropics YouTube channel.
Foreword: classic orthodontistry
John Mew has been working on a lecture series going into more depth on his thoughts, ideas and what inspired them. In this episode he talks about the classic orthodontistry. If there are any other topics you want us to cover please let us know.
1. The Cell Volition Theory.
Before we talk about the best way to correct malocclusion we should really discuss why it occurs and before even that we should think about what creates a good occlusion. This means looking at growth and how all organisms grow from a single cell. In 1958, I was very interested in John Gurdon’s experiments with cloning. He was able to take the nucleus from a somatic cell of a tadpole and implant it into an enucleated egg cell.
2. Facial growth.
If we apply the “Cell Volition Theory” to human growth we need to remember the importance of ‘position’ or in its long-term context ‘posture’, as this is what enables the cells to grow naturally to the right place with no pushing or pulling. I was taught that during evolution the genes changed slightly over the years and that most malocclusion is due to changes in the genes, caused mainly by alterations in our diet’, is that true?
3. The Tropic Premise
Why do human jaws and teeth often have poor growth when other parts of the body are rarely affected? Occasionally a child will have ‘Club Feet’ or perhaps ‘an extra finger” but in contrast, more than half will have malocclusion. I was much impressed by the research of Horowitz on Identical Twins way back in 1960. He found that the jaws varied more than any other part of their body. It does seem that this difference can be greater than ten times, despite the genes being identical. The Illustration below shows the area open to environmental variability.
4. Stanley's Case
In this episode John Mew talks about the case of Stanley, which is a good example of the tropic premise in action.
5. What makes a face attractive?
In this episode John Mew talks about facial appearance, some research that he has undertaken and what make a face attractive.
6. Diagnosis of a face
In this episode John Mew talks about diagnosis of the face.
7. Informed Consent
In this episode John Mew talks about informed consent.
8. The Stage One Appliance
In this episode John Mew talks about the stage one appliance. In it variations this appliance is one of the most successful upper expansion appliances in existence. Use in conjunction with Myobrace, copied by many it is the most successful element of the Biobloc orthotropics.
9. The Stage One Appliance
10. Measuring Facial Aesthetics
Is it possible to scientifically asses facial attractiveness? Prof Mew discussed some aspects of this and suggests that the cheek line shows great promise. Faces that grow well work well and are incidentally attractive. For too long this has been dismissed as a seemingly random event which was just inherited. As it becomes very clear that this is far from true it is important to apply science to the subject and making an objective assessment is part of this.