Correlation between some facial indexes and mesiodistal width of maxillary anterior teeth

Both tooth size and shape of the anterior maxilla play important role in complete denture and facial esthetics. Tooth selection for an edentulous patient with no pre-extraction is very difficult. The purpose of this study was to analyze mesio-distal width of maxillary anterior teeth and to determine the presence of any relationship between them and other facial measurements. In this cross-sectional study, after enrolment of 100 high school students, full-face standardized digital images of them were taken in frontal view. Bizaygomatic, interpupilary and interalar distance were measured by images. Width of teeth was determined on the casts. T-test and pearson correlation coefficient were performed to analyze the data. Maxillary central incisor is the widest anterior tooth in both male and female. Correlation between bizaygomatic and interpupillay distances and central incisor width were not significant but between interalar and intercanine were significant. Based on this study, interalar distance is a better index to estimate the width of anterior teeth of maxilla in an edentulous patient. [ZJRMS, 2011; 13(8): 12-17]