Dental malocclusion at the navel of the Xingu river

editorial Dental malocclusion at the navel of the Xingu river " And whatever is now disclosed to the people, Will surprise everyone not for being exotic, but for having remained concealed Until it was perceived as obvious. " Caetano Veloso, song: " An indian " The feeling of coexisting with and treating a highly prevalent disease of which origin is unknown is unsettling. It reminds us of when heavy drugs were used to treat cancer of which association with Genetics was still unknown — in fact, nothing was known about the fact that the origin of cancer was right there, in the nucleus of the cell, in the DNA. And this logically resulted in a waste of time and lives. However, when the time came for oncologists and geneticists — cloistered in their laboratories, traveling into the nucleus of the cell — to meet, science made a gold-medal jump and Oncogenetics, the new science, sat on the front chairs of Oncology conferences. Although millions of people undergo orthodontic treatment , the causes of malocclusion have not yet been clearly determined. That certainly is a paradox for a contemporary world that strives to offer evidence of facts. What is even worse is to know that discussions on malocclusion, held in orthodontic events, raise significantly less interest than presentations about new material and new treatment techniques. Would we be walking towards the same abyss Medicine, a science that does not admit delays, has fallen into? It all began with Begg 2 who, in 1954, studied the skulls of Australian aborigines. He established that malocclusion is " a disease of modern civilization " caused by tooth wear. Understanding Begg's findings means perceiving the brilliant history that influenced the origins of Orthodontics and provided the road that enabled extraction of permanent teeth for space opening in the dental arch so as to counterbalance the absence of interproximal wear. Nevertheless, Begg's concepts went beyond technicality, which bothers a lot of people, as Omar Gabriel would say. A macro analysis reveals the remarkable influence of his theory over the hypothesis that malocclusion, especially dental crowding, is mainly of environmental etiology. Begg's theory is still controversial and has been discussed under four models of investigation: 1) experiments with animal models; 2) analysis of ancestors' skulls gleaned by means of excavations , and epidemiological studies conducted with primitive/ isolated populations; 4) studies conducted with human twins. Overall, the …