Growth and Treatment: A Meeting of the Minds

In his foreword, Lysle E. Johnston, Jr., sets a sober tone regarding the difficulty of using experimental data in clinical practice and the challenges that we face as a learned specialty. In fact, throughout the book, there are numerous references to statements made by Dr. Johnston during his distinguished career as an academic and "conscience" of the orthodontic specialty. What really happens during successful Class II treatment and what assuredly does not occur without orthodontic treatment are subjects that the reader is compelled to ponder in chapter after chapter. Rolf Behrents, in a section titled, "The Past as Present: What Have We Learned About Facial Growth?" clearly identifies some of the ongoing areas of clinical controversy and how our thinking about orthodontic treatment efficacy, timing, and stability has changed in recent times. Robert Isaacson's chapter combines biomechanics with clinical treatment and a well-presented background on the biology of Class II correction.

There are simply too many authors and subjects presented in this text for a brief review to adequately describe. Suffice to say that any serious orthodontist will want to spend some time reading and pondering these articles. Dr. McNamara, as editor, has indeed succeeded in bringing together an eclectic and brilliant group of scholars, clinicians, and scholarly clinicians with the purpose of stimulating all of us to reexamine our clinical procedures in light of pertinent scientific inquiry and evidence. What greater purpose could this book hope to achieve? And what a fitting testimonial to the vision and life-long contribution of Robert Moyers to the orthodontic specialty and to humanity.

ELLIOTT M. MOSKOWITZ, DDS, MSD