More on Orthodontics

After I wrote yesterday's post, I started wondering more about the history of orthodontics; if the high need for braces is related to the modern use of bottles and pacifiers, then before the widespread use of these things, there must not have been significant need for braces.  I did a little bit of Googling to see if this research had been done and found some really interesting information compiled by dentist Brian Palmer.

To better understand the significance of  the influence of breastfeeding on malocclusion, one must consider that, of the approximately 600 older skulls this author examined and evaluated, nearly all had perfect occlusions.  All of the skulls were from populations living before the invention of the modern baby bottle or were from breastfeeding cultures, and therefore these individuals were necessarily breastfed.  These skulls universally demonstrated, good occlusion, few dental caries, and well-rounded and full "U-shaped" dental arches.  These features were found in far fewer of the modern skulls.

For any of you who are wannabe lactation consultants like me, you might be interested in reading the entire article here. He has lots of other interesting articles, too.