Prevalence of oral lesions: A multi centered study

One of the most perplexing aspects of complete denture prosthodontics is the selection of appropriate maxillary anterior denture teeth size, particularly when no pre-extraction records are available. Despite the fact that the use of interalar distance, interpupillary distance, as well as distance between the medialis angles of the eyes are considered, to some extent, a reliable guide for determining the size of the maxillary anterior teeth, the literature on dentistry does not recommend one crucial method. This study is the second part of a series of research papers focusing mainly on the determination of maxillary anterior teeth width for a completely edentulous patient. The aim of the series is to suggest a new methodology for determining the maxillary anterior teeth mesiodistal width, based on certain stable guides that were derived from dentate casts with angle class I arch relationship and normal teeth alignment. These guides include basically the AB (the distance measured from the mesio-incisal angles of the maxillary central incisors along the midline and perpendicular to the intercanine (IC) line) mean distance obtained from the first study, the midline of the palate, and the arch form. (2050) Safa’a A. Asal E.D.J. Vol. 63, No. 2 IC line is 9.88±0.90, 10.55±0.93, and 7.73±0.63 mm for ovoid, tapering and square arch forms respectively with significant differences between the distances and its corresponding arch forms13. Based on the fact that the loss of jaw bone after extraction reduces the size of the middle and lower thirds of the face, which is already reduced by aging as documented in the literature14-19, the Grave et al study reported that the mean distance from the labial surface of maxillary incisors to the posterior border of incisive papilla for the group with artificial teeth is significantly smaller than that for the group with natural teeth20. Hence, the author prefers to define the AB distance at 10 mm, 9 mm, 7 mm for tapering, ovoid and square arch forms respectively.