External Hyperostosis of the Mandible Angle Associated with Masseteric Hypertrophy: A New Entity

Abstract

It is our purpose to describe the bony clinical and radiologic findings in cases of masseteric hypertrophy and to report a new entity associated with it—external hyperostosis of the angle of the mandible. The clinical material upon which this study is based consists of 28 cases which were subjected to a multidisciplinary study at Winter Veterans Hospital and other psychiatric institutions in Topeka, Kan., by Guggenheim and Cohen and associates.¹The observations of these workers accord with the opinion of Gurney,⁷shared by Kern,¹³that the masseteric enlargement is a work hypertrophy caused by the habit of jaw clenching. It has been found that the presence of this condition indicates a severe underlying emotional disturbance. A central problem of the patients concerned has to do with disposal of excess quantities of oral-aggressive energy. As pointed out by Boldt,⁴Barton,¹⁴and others, patients with this condition