iDentistry The Journal January 2017 | Page 22

The Journal Table 3 : Comparing anterior ratio of Punjabi and Caucasian subjects The mean Punjabi OR is 92.5% as compared to the Caucasian OR which is 91.3% while the mean AR for Punjabi was 79.84% and 77.2% for Caucasian. Discussion To attain an optimum inter arch dental relationship, the maxillary tooth material should be in approximate desirable ratios to the mandibular tooth material. The importance of tooth size discrepancies in orthodontic diagnosis has been widely reported in the literature and accepted by the orthodontic community because the relationship between the upper and lower anterior dentitions is related to orthodontic finishing excellence. In the present study, the mean tooth size ratios using Punjabi subject was different from Bolton’s measurements using Caucasian subject. This study contained a large dispersion of the OR and AR for Punjabi subjects. The difference in these studies could be accounted to the samples involved as Bolton study used a sample of 55 subjects and this present study had a sample size of 100 subjects, or this could imply small degree of variation among Caucasian tooth sizes. The overall ratio and anterior ratio using Punjabi subjects was different from Bolton’s measurements. This can be possibly explained by variations in mesiodistal dimensions of 31 29 23 22 10 3 1 21 specific teeth, the maxillary teeth showing greater variability than the mandibular teeth.The mesiodistal dimension of maxillary lateral incisor, second premolar, first molar was less and that of mandibular second premolar was more in Punjabi subjects as compared to Caucasian subjects of a study by Judica Balders- Dizon13 on Bolton tooth size analysis of Filipinos. The clinical importance of this finding is the non applicability of Bolton’s values for Punjabi population. Similar results were seen in a study done by Singh and Goyal 14 on North Indian population who showed AR - 78% and OR - 96.53% which are more than Bolton’s values. In another study done by Uysal and Sari 12 on Turkish population the OR - 89.88% and AR - 78.26% which were significantly different form that of Bolton’s population. In a study done on Nepalese population, Qu Hong et al15 found out that the AR - 78.04% is different and OR - 91.22% is similar to that of Bolton’s values. Smith et al 5 compared 3 populations of Whites, Blacks and Hispanics which showed that OR and AR the three populations (except AR of White females) differed significantly from Bolton’s values. On the basis of the foregoing, it is clear that the Bolton’s ratios are not applicable across all populations. Separate standards for different populations are needed. Vol. 13 12 No. 1 2 3 May-August Sept-Dec 2017 Jan-April 2016 2016