Questions expose our uncertainty, and uncertainty has been our motive. The authors and contributors have aggregated this book, and the series of books to follow, in answer to questions covering the breadth and depths of orthodontics. This volume covers growth, development and research, and was inspired by the foundation of all sciences, basic science. Knowledge of elemental matter and its interactions ferment into our understanding of complex multi-process systems. Befittingly the theme of this chapter is Earth, the only celestial body with the essential components which coalesce to produce beauty in both simplicity and complexity. In this volume, we establish the essential components to orthodontics as both the clinical speciality and science. Without knowledge of the intricacies of development, research and management, the application of content from subsequent volumes become thwarted with misinterpretation and misapplication. Indeed orthodontics is endowed with options, but with an understanding of the essential components, one can achieve beauty in the application of the knowledge of future volumes in both simple and complex terms. The writing of the book started with the amalgamation of orthodontic notes and the experience of the main two authors, Dr Mohammed Almuzian and Dr Haris Khan, it organically grew with input from other authors who helped in proofreading, summarising the key points of each chapter and implementing the ‘exam night review’ section. There have been numerous contributors to this book, we seek to acknowledge them, as, without each contributors efforts, this book would have been nothing more than an interesting idea and a ‘what if’.