Relationship between maxillary central incisor proportions and facial proportions

A selection of abstracts of clinically relevant papers from other journals. The abstracts on this page have been chosen and edited by John R. Radford.

Abstract

Total face height was associated with maxillary central incisor tooth height although caution should be exercised if this ratio (1:18) is used to select tooth moulds.

Main

Radia S, Sherriff M et al. J Prosthet Dent 2016; 115: 741–748

When selecting denture tooth moulds, Berry's 'biometric ratio' of 1:16 (maxillary central incisor width to bizygomatic width), that was first reported some one hundred years ago and was the basis for the Trubyte Tooth Selector Instrument, still finds its revered position in some texts. But the width of maxillary central incisor teeth has been compared with a host of different anthropological measurements, including cranial circumference and the person's height. In this study the investigators recruited 149 white British dental students (insufficient numbers of non-whites) and recorded the width of maxillary incisor teeth and vertical and horizontal face and soft tissue measurements. They found there was no relationship between maxillary central incisor tooth dimensions and face proportions; the 'biometric ratio' was not confirmed. But blindingly obvious, it was reported that men had larger teeth and faces than women, although 'sex has little influence on tooth-to-face proportions'.