THE EDITOR'S CORNER

It's that season of the year again and it just gets you to thinking about some of the eternal verities in our profession. Here are some typical enduring principles and guides to orthodontic practice.

A fixed lower retainer is worn usually from completion of treatment until the patient is married. It is called the cuspid-to-Cupid retainer.

Give me a lever long enough and I will loosen a band (The Atlas Theorem).

The inheritance of acquired characteristics--If you think this patient was pretty bad, wait until you get his brother.

The length of retention is directly proportional to the orthodontist's fear of relapse. This is just as well for the orthodontist's wife. He's bad enough now. If his cases were all stable without retention, he would be insufferable.

The tyranny of the lower cuspids--If you expand lower cuspids, they will relapse and crowding of the lower anteriors will result. Also if you don't expand the cuspids.

Out of the mouths of babes oftimes come braces.

Orthodontic techniques are like a boomerang: You like to try a new one, but you have trouble throwing the old one away.

The tyranny of the lower third molars--Lower third molars have great power to cause crowding in the lower arch and make lower anterior teeth irregular. The power is so great, the third molars do not even have to be present to do this.

A picture is worth a thousand words. Words like blurry, underexposed.

Contact of the teeth by musical instruments can definitely move teeth. This is especially true of a piano.

A cement has been developed that makes a stronger bond for direct attachments and for orthodontic bands than anything else that exists. The only trouble is they can't get the cap off the bottle.

How many headgear patients do you know who never throw their heads into gear?

The oldest band remover on the market is still the best. It is called chewing gum.

When you achieve a slight Class III relationship on a Class II case, it is called "over-correction."

When you do not achieve a Class I relationship on a Class II case, it is called "under treatment."

If you mix a batch of cement to a proper thin consistency and flow, you can cement an entire set of bands with one cementation. It gives you so much working time that you can frequently band and de-band at the same sitting.

In order to avoid root resorption, only take post-op bite-wing x-rays.

I can't get my own kids to put out the garbage. This lady wants me to holler at her child so effectively that it will last for a month.

Then there was the orthodontist who crossed an appointment card with a homing pigeon. The cards are never lost now, but he's working on a new invention, crossing that product with a pair of eyeglasses so they'll get read occasionally. So, if you happen to see a homing pigeon with eyeglasses on and an appointment card in his mouth headed your way, don't laugh. Not everything we do works out just right the first time.