Methods: Forty sets of dental casts (21 females, 19 males - mean age 15.9 years), with missing maxillary lateral incisors (22 unilateral, 18 bilateral), were compared to the same number of casts from a control group matched for ethnicity, age and gender. A digital caliper was used the measure mesio-distal width for all maxillary and mandibular teeth, except second and third molars. The independent t-test and Mann-Whitney test were used to analyze the data for tooth-width measurements, and the Shrout-Winer test was used to determine the measurement reliability of the investigator.
Results: Male subjects in the test group had significantly smaller maxillary posterior teeth than the control group, with differences ranging from 0.28-0.78mm. Females showed significantly smaller maxillary anterior teeth, with differences ranging from 0.22-0.42mm. When present, the contralateral maxillary lateral incisor was significantly smaller (1.27mm) than the control group in male and female groups.
Conclusions: Orthodontic patients with agenesis of one or both maxillary lateral incisors tend to exhibit smaller maxillary posterior teeth in males, and smaller mandibular anterior teeth in females. Also, a higher incidence of smaller contralateral lateral incisors was found for the test group when only one lateral incisor was missing.
Keywords: Esthetics, Malocclusion, Orthodontics and Teeth