Changes in the edentate mandible in the elderly.

Resorption of alveolar bone is the best recognized feature of mandibular aging in the edentate subject. The other consequences of the loss of teeth in the elderly are less well known. An anthropometric study of the mandible by antero-posterior and lateral radiographs of subjects older than 70 years both dentate and edentate but without any maxillo-mandibular dysmorphosis has been done to demonstrate the differences, which exist between the dentate and edentate mandible. The edentate mandibles showed a diminution in the height of the symphysis and increase in the height of the mandibular incisure. A diminution in the height of the body and an increase in the gonial angle in the significant manner. No significant difference was seen for the height of the ramus and the length of the mandible, the minimum width of the ramus and the bigonial width. The diminution in the height of the mandibular symphysis and of the body is explained by the resorption of the alveoli part of the mandible. The increase in the mandibular angle and the diminution in the height of the mandibular incisure may be explained by disequilibrium between the elevator and depressor muscles of the mandible, as a function of the elevator muscles or by the absence of the molar buttress.