Diagnosing Individual Arches (Elements I, III)

- Defensible treatment goals for individual arches
- The importance of diagnosing arches rather than malocclusions
- Classifying arches (not malocclusions)
- Evaluating jaw widths
- Incisor positions that are compatible with health, function, and esthetics
- Interim Core Discrepancy (ICD)
- Differentiating an extraction versus a non-extraction arch

A critical distinction between the Six Elements Orthodontic Philosophy©™ and other contemporary philosophies is the separation of individual arches from the malocclusion for purposes of diagnosis, classification, and treatment.  The characteristics of an optimal arch will be described (Element I) as well as the methodology for diagnosing and classifying arches. Jaw widths (Element III), though skeletal in nature, must also be evaluated as part of arch diagnosis.  An accurate method for evaluating skeletal width discrepancies will be described.

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