[The role of the maxillary incisors in the development of the base of the nose. Applications in dento-facial orthopedics].

The neonatal respiratory distress observed in the event of a solitary median maxillary central incisor compels us to reconsider some of the traditional concepts relative to the transverse growth of the nasal level of the face. The "container-contents" connections associating maxillary incisor odontogenesis with the development of the premaxillary and facial envelopes draw the attention to the significant geometrical and mechanical expression of this morphogenesis. They require attributing to the maxillary incisors an important motor role in this development. They lead to granting the ontogenetic bonds, between malocclusions and disturbed nasal breathing, the place they deserve, taking into account the morphological integration combining them. They eventually open a new therapeutic prospect: the optimization of the development of the growing face, with regard to the various tissue mechanics and physiologies, becoming the best guarantor for the prevention of relapse after dentofacial orthopedics.