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The most significant development in the special field of dentistry which is concerned with prevention and correction of malocclusion of the teeth is the recognition that this orthopedic service is associated with both general and regional physiologic and pathologic processes. Notwithstanding the importance of mechanical devices and technics which have deserved and received considerable attention in the past, the specialists in this field have come to realize that the local condition bears an intimate relation to the physiologic phenomena of heredity, growth, development and function. Likewise they understand that causation, diagnosis, preventive therapy and corrective measures in cases of malocclusion of the teeth and facial deformities rest on a knowledge not only of the normal structures but of the manner in which disease affects the form, the function and the reactivity of the tissues with which orthodontists have to deal and the entire body economy with which these tissues are