Distância entre os cantos mediais dos olhos para estimar a largura combinada dos seis dentes superiores anteriores

Abstract

During the construction of a removable prosthesis, the lack of pre-extractions records turns the selection of artificial maxillary anterior teeth into a complex procedure. The purpose of this study was to identify a mathematical relation between the anterior dental segment and the distance between the medialis angles of the eyes, for selecting the adequate width of the six maxillary anterior teeth. Standardized digital images of 81 dentate Brazilian subjects were used to measure both facial and oral structures when viewed from the frontal aspect through image processing software. Accurate casts were made to measure on a curve the distance between the maxillary canines. Parametric statistics was performed to analyze the results (P<.05). The distance between the medialis angles of the eyes showed no significant difference according to gender (P<.108). The Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient showed significant positive correlation between the distance between the medialis angles of the eyes and all variables compared. After the linear regression analysis, six mathematical formulae were concluded to relate ICD (x) with dental measurements (y): TTP male (y=0.271x + 28.596), TTP female (y=0.401x + 23.326), DDP male (y=0.318x + 31.732), DDP female (y=0.337x + 30.132), TTC total sample (y=0.268x + 34.456), and DDC total sample (y=0.322x + 42.362). In addition, four biometric ratios between ICD and all dental measurements were defined: TTP (1.094), DDP (1.231), TTC (1.276) e DDC (1.563). The distance between the medialis angles of the eyes (ICD) is a reliable anatomic reference to select artificial substitute teeth with width similar to the natural teeth, offering an adequate esthetic result to the mouth rehabilitation treatment.