A Study On The Selection Of The Maxillary Anterior Artificial Teeth In Korean Adults

Ahn, Hyun Jeong; Yang, Hong So; Park, Ha Ok

Abstract

The selection of the maxillary anterior artificial teeth is made primarily for esthetics and they must be in harmony with the surrounding oral environment. However the selection of artificial teeth is based on the large degree of subjective judgement of the dentists, therefore, this is one of the most unscientific processes. This study was performed to determine clinically whether there is correlation among the width of the maxillary central incisor(WMCI), the intercanine distance(ICD), the facial width(FW), and the interalar nasal width(IAW)in Korean adults, and to provide the selection standards for the maxillary anterior artificial teeth. The casts were obtained from 91 undergraduate dental students(49 males and 42 females) with Angle's class I occlusion presenting well-arranged intact anterior teeth. The WMCI and ICD were measured on the casts with a vernier calipers(Miltex(R), Germany). The photographic procedures under standardized conditions were performed to record each subject's frontal face using digital camera(Olympus(R), C-2500L, Japan). The FW and IAW were measured with image analyzer(Image-Pro(R) PLUS, media cybermetrics, USA). The results were obtained as follows: 1. The mean WMCI was 8.11+/-0.67 mm, ICD was 37.88+/-2.15 mm, FW was 141.29+/-5.84 mm, and IAW was 37.85+/-2.29 mm. 2. The ratios of FW/WMCI, FW/ICD, IAW/ICD were 17.4, 3.7, 1.0 respectively. 3. All measurements(WMCI, ICD, FW, and IAW) of male group were longer than those of female group significantly in Student's t-test(p<0.01). 4. There was significant correlation between WMCI, ICD, FW, and IAW in Pearson's correlation analysis(p<0.01). 5. The relationship between IAW and ICD shows the strongest correlation among six combinations in linear regression analysis(R2=0.753, Y=7.046+0.815X). The FW and IAW could be very reliable guides for the selection of the maxillary anterior artificial teeth.