Modern Habsburg Jaw

But while the line was intact this inbreeding caused this royal family to exhibit a number of peculiar physical traits especially one known as the habsburg jaw.

Modern habsburg jaw.

The researchers were interested in mandibular prognathism perhaps better known as the famous habsburg jaw this was a facial deformity that affected some of the habsburgs notably including king. The researchers led by geneticist román vilas from spain s. The most salient indicator of the family s inbreeding the habsburg jaw is what doctors refer to as mandibular prognathism. It is characterized by a jutting lower jaw that is often accompanied by an abnormally thick lower lip and sometimes a tongue that is abnormally large.

The family in question is the habsburgs. A new report at smithsonian takes a look back at one of the most distinctive features of a royal family that once ruled much of europe over the course of several centuries. Also called the habsburg lip and the austrian lip the habsburg jaw is a physical condition known by the modern term mandibular prognathism.