Morphological Observations on the Dentiton of a Giantism Patient and a Dwarfism Patient

Abstract

The dentitions of both a giantism patient (male, 219cm in stature) and a dwarfism patient (female, 114cm in stature) were studied. The observations and measurements were made on the plaster casts taken from the upper and the lower jaws. Anatomical details of the teeth and the dental arches are to be shown in the photographs, and the measured values are given in the tables.
The results are summarized as follows :
(1) No congenital absent tooth was recognized in both cases.
(2) There was scarcely any anomalous formation to be noticed in the dentition of the giantism patient (Fig. 2), but highly reduced tendencies were observed in that of the dwarfism patient (Fig. 5).
(3) Concerning the tooth size (mesio-distal diameter of the tooth crown) of the giantism patient, the second and the third molars were fairly large, while the remaining teeth approximately showed the average size. But almost all the teeth of the dwarfism patient were very small (Table 3, Fig. 8). It might be suggested that both the enlargement of the second and the third molars in the giantism patient and the reduction of teeth in the dwarfism patient should result from an abnormal condition of the endocrine gland.
(4) The dimensions of the upper and the lower dental arches of the giantism patient were exceedingly large, while those of the dwarfism patient were small in the extreme (Table 4, Fig. 9).
(5) In both cases the form of the dental arches presented a peculiar appearance. In the giantism patient the upper arch showed an oblong and the lower one showed U-form (Fig. 2), whereas the arches of the dwarfism patient were a round form in both the upper and the lower jaws (Fig. 5)
(6) Disharmony between the tooth size and the dimensions of the dental arches in the giantism patient was conpensated by diasthema in the anterior part of the jaws (Table 2, Fig. 2 & 3) and that in the dwarfism patient was made amends by semi-circular tendency of the dental arches as well as zigzag arrangement of the front teeth (Fig. 5 & 6).
(7) Several fairly deep grooves were forming on the surface of front teeth of the dwarfism patient, and these grooves accorded with the lines of perikymata (Fig. 6).
(8) In the giantism patient, one or two accesory cusps exclusive of hypoconulid were observed at the distal border on the occlusal surface of the lower molars (Fig. 11 & 12).