Morphological features of maxillary anterior teeth in a sample of Chinese population

The purpose of this study is to investigate the morphological features of maxillary anterior teeth in the Chinese population. The width-to-height ratios of these teeth and the width proportions of the central incisor and canine to the lateral incisor were calculated on the casts of 101 Chinese individuals with normal occlusion. The mean width in the sample was taken as the given lateral incisor width. The given central incisor width and canine width were decided according to the width proportion relationship. The maxillary anterior teeth with the given width were placed in the dentitions with three different types of arch forms, and the esthetic effect from the front view was analyzed. The results showed that the width-to-height ratios for the central incisor, lateral incisor, and canine were 87.75% (SD=8.31%), 84.02% (SD=7.74%), and 86.99% (SD=7.80%), respectively. The width-to-width proportions of the central incisor to lateral incisor and canine to lateral incisor were 1.19% (SD=0.09) and 1.13% (SD=0.09%), respectively. With the given maxillary anterior tooth width, the golden ratio or other recurring proportion between the teeth is not obtained in any arch form from the front view. These results lead to the conclusion that Chinese maxillary anterior teeth display a square-like form with rather high width-to-height ratios. There is the possibility that there is no golden ratio or other recurring proportion in the width relationship between the maxillary anterior teeth of Chinese individuals.