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Norman Wahl

Publications and source records attributed to Norman Wahl.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Orthodontics in 3 millennia. Chapter 7: Facial analysis before the advent of the cephalometer.

The cephalometer was not invented in a vacuum. It was the culmination of centuries of efforts on the part of artists, anthropologists, and scientists to fathom nature's vicissitudes. Whereas Renaissance investigators "caged" the human face in a series of grids in an effort to find proportional relations, 20th-century orthodontists were more interested in knowing how the teeth and jaws related to the face and cranial base. Primarily a research tool, the cephalometer became a means of unmasking a patient's whole developmental pattern, becoming our most important diagnostic tool since study models.

Art↗
PubMed2006

Orthodontics in 3 millennia. Chapter 8: The cephalometer takes its place in the orthodontic armamentarium.

After World War II, cephalometric radiography came into widespread use, enabling orthodontists to measure changes in tooth and jaw positions produced by growth and treatment. Cephalometrics revealed that many malocclusions resulted from faulty jaw relationships, not just malposed teeth, and made it possible to see that jaw growth could be altered by orthodontic treatment. Since 1931, a multitude of analyses have been developed, whereby the face is inscribed in triangles, rectangles, and polygons, permitting the orthodontist to dissect the profile into an array of angular and distance measurements. Those who embraced too quickly these measurements as a panacea soon learned that they are best taken with a grain of good judgment.

Canada↗
PubMed2006

Orthodontics in 3 millennia. Chapter 9: functional appliances to midcentury.

The history of the functional appliance can be traced back to 1879, when Norman Kingsley introduced the "bite-jumping" appliance. In the early 1900s, parallel development began in the United States and Europe in fixed and functional techniques, respectively, but the Atlantic Ocean was a geographic barrier that restricted the sharing of knowledge and experience in these philosophies. The only exception to this was the fixed functional appliance designed by Herbst. The monobloc, developed by Robin in 1902, is generally considered the forerunner of removable functional appliances, but the activator developed in Norway by Andresen in the 1920s was the first functional appliance to be widely accepted, becoming the basis of the "Norwegian system" of treatment. Both the appliance system and its theoretical underpinnings were improved and extended elsewhere in Europe, particularly by the German school led by Häupl, Bimler, and Balters. It would be after midcentury before functional appliances were reintroduced into American orthodontics.

Europe↗
PubMed2006

Orthodontics in 3 millennia. Chapter 10: midcentury retrospect.

Late in orthodontics' second millennium, we paused to retrace the path that brought us to be practitioners of "the latest and the best" as Angle might have put it. What we thought was state of the art proved to be only a stepping stone along that path. The best was yet to come.

Cephalometry↗
PubMed2006

Orthodontics in 3 millennia. Chapter 11: the golden age of orthodontics.

For orthodontists, the post-World War II era was characterized by the introduction of fluoridation, sit-down dentistry, and an upswing in extractions. Postwar prosperity, the baby boom, and increased enlightenment of parents contributed to what was later called the "golden age of orthodontics." The subsequent clamor for more orthodontists led to a proliferation of graduate departments and inauguration of the AAO Preceptorship Program. There was also an increase in mixed-dentition treatment, requiring improved methods of analyzing arch lengths.

Health Services Needs and Demand↗
PubMed2006

Orthodontics in 3 millennia. Chapter 12: Two controversies: early treatment and occlusion.

From the beginning, orthodontists have been faced with the decision of when to start treatment. Until the late 20th century, this decision was based on clinical observation, the influence of strong leaders, and (after midcentury) the results obtained by what Europeans called "functional jaw orthopedics." Recent findings questioning the efficacy of early treatment have forced orthodontists to ask themselves whether their decision to "start now" is being influenced too heavily by practice-management considerations. Our concept of occlusion has evolved from a static to a dynamic one. Emulating their prosthodontist brethren, orthodontists have attempted to reproduce jaw movements with the use of articulators, but the popularity of these devices has been declining in recent years.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2005

Orthodontics in 3 millennia. Chapter 1: Antiquity to the mid-19th century.

Orthodontics had its beginnings in the time of the ancient Egyptians, who used crude metal bands and catgut, but it was not until the late 18th century that the first practical appliances came into use. These were fine-tuned during the early 1900s; today's mechanisms are merely refinements. Major changes occurred when practitioners--originally physicians--began turning their attention from cosmetic "regulating" to occlusion and stability, while empiricism gave way to objectivity and the scientific method. The purpose of this article is to review the history of orthodontics from antiquity to the modern era. The article is divided into chapters that will be presented serially in every other issue of the Journal.

Egypt↗
PubMed2005

Orthodontics in 3 millennia. Chapter 2: entering the modern era.

In the early 1900s, groundbreaking scientists, working without benefit of graduate training and having little precedent, built the orthodontic edifice brick by brick. Kingsley pioneered cleft-palate treatment. Case showed us the importance of facial esthetics. Dewey and Ketcham made the ABO the first certifying board in dentistry. But it was Angle who gave us our first school, journal, society, and practical classification of malocclusion.

History, 19th Century↗
PubMed2005

Orthodontics in 3 millennia. Chapter 3: The professionalization of orthodontics.

In the 1930s, creative thinkers in orthodontics began to more openly question the status quo. Apprenticeships had given way to formal instruction, and proprietary schools bowed to graduate university programs, including some taught or headed by women. The MD degree was gradually replaced by the MS as the focus of orthodontics zoomed out from teeth to the total patient. Angle's dogmatic stance against extraction was challenged successfully by his last disciple, Tweed, and another of Angle's pupils, Broadbent, developed that century's most important diagnostic aid, the cephalometer, which opened the door to Brodie's landmark growth studies and Downs's cephalometric analysis. Dentistry's first specialty organization, the Society of Orthodontists, was formed in 1900, and the first specialty journals appeared.

Dentists, Women↗
PubMed2005

Orthodontics in 3 millennia. Chapter 4: the professionalization of orthodontics (concluded).

Angle's legacy was assured when his disciples, both in the United States and abroad, boarded the joiners' bandwagon. The first 2 cornerstones of the professional pyramid were laid (education and organization), and the specialty began to pour the third cornerstone: orthodontic literature. Anthropologists, anatomists, histologists, and health professionals laid the foundation for the study of craniofacial growth.

Europe↗
PubMed2005

Orthodontics in 3 millennia. Chapter 5: the American Board of Orthodontics, Albert Ketcham, and early 20th-century appliances.

Early in the last century, 3 events put Colorado in the orthodontic spotlight: the discovery-by an orthodontist-of the caries-preventive powers of fluoridated water, the formation of dentistry's first specialty board, and the founding of a supply company by and for orthodontists. Meanwhile, inventive practitioners were giving the profession more choices of treatment modalities, and stainless steel was making its feeble debut.

Fluoridation↗
PubMed2005

Orthodontics in 3 millennia. Chapter 6: More early 20th-century appliances and the extraction controversy.

The trying conditions of the Great Depression and World War II did not deter innovative orthodontists from adding 3 new appliances to our armamentarium. Clinicians become fragmented into various technique "camps." Silas Kloehn's neck gear became a more patient-friendly version of extraoral anchorage, but it still had drawbacks. Angle's stranglehold on the specialty was finally broken when 3 of his disciples made extractions respectable.

Acrylic Resins↗