Assessment of dental arch forms in a sample of children

In this study, we investigated dental arch forms in a representative sample of children with mixed dentition. Twenty-four pairs of study models, belonging to twenty-four youngsters (twelve boys and twelve girls aged 8 to 9 years) with acceptable occlusion, were scanned and assessed by Ortho analyzer software. Three transversal and three vertical measurements were acquired to evaluate the lengths and widths of dental arches, and the ratios between these measurements were standardized. Next, the mean standardized parameters were used to define the dental arch form. Unpaired t-tests were used to analyze gender differences for all measures. Subsequently, frequencies and percentages were determined for each arch shape in both jaws and genders, and Pearson's Chi-squared test was used to evaluate differences between genders. Males exhibited higher mean values for all measurements, but without statistical significance. The most prevalent dental arch was the mid form (83.3%) for both jaws and genders.