Buschang image

[Greg Gittleman (Course Director) Gittleman (Course Director)]

Hi Joti! Just to ensure I’m responding to your question, what image are you referring to? Is it the one from the Buschang article?

I agree with you, these images can be confusing, but it’s really important to understand what they’re showing to determine the difference between expected growth and treatment.

[Joti Kaler]

Yes! So if you look at the molar vs incisor it is both 0.9mm extrusion but they look very different. I keep missing these questions on the sample!

[Anish Gala]

I agree these eruptions due to growth or poor vertical management are very confusing.

[Greg Gittleman (Course Director) Gittleman (Course Director)]

I couldn’t agree more. It gets difficult having to speculate on tenths of a millimeter when given a drawing of a tooth with no actual measurements. I do believe that it’s important to know the general trends and what the overall expectations should be in the absence of intervention, and then be able to distinguish if the intervention had a significant impact.

[Alyssa Domico]

I had noticed this too – that, while the mandibular incisor vertical change and mandibular molar vertical change is 0.9 mm, the 0.9 mm at the mandibular incisor looks to be way larger in magnitude. I understand drawings aren’t perfect and it’s more important to understand general trends, but I figured I would clarify on this to make sure I’m not misinterpreting. Would it be okay to roughly base our estimate for the lower incisor vertical change on the magnitude for the the molar drawing, or is there any reason it appears to be larger between the two? So far when I’ve been practicing, I’ve tried to eyeball 1.8 mm as a reference for 2 years of treatment, rather than going straight off that drawing. Thank you very much for the help and advice!

[Chad Carter (Course Director)]

Yes, Eyeballing appropriate to crown height is what I have found helpful. So a mandibular incisor is about 10mm (9.5 but 10 sounds better)… so 2 years of growth should show about 20% of the traced crown height erupting.

-Carter