The effects of infraocclusion: Part 2. The type of movement of the adjacent teeth and their vertical development.

This second article discusses how the inclusion of a vertical component (the infraocclusion of the deciduous molar) into the otherwise horizontal band of transseptal fibers affects the vertical development of the two adjacent teeth. From the hypothesis proposed in the first article of this series, it seemed logical to assume that the occlusal heights of the teeth adjacent to the affected tooth would themselves be lowered, when measured to the inferior border of the mandible and compared with the height of the occlusal table of the control side. Secondly, since the vertical component affects only one side of each adjacent tooth, these teeth would be tilted about a center of rotation which is much higher (coronal) than is seen in a tooth that merely tips forward as the result of available space in the immediate vicinity in the arch. In this study, both these assumptions were confirmed, with a very high degree of statistical significance.