Correlation between intercanthal distance, intercanine distance and the mesiodistal width of maxillary central incisors, the underlying physical parameters defining treatment guidelines

Background: While planning for the post-treatment rehabilitation of edentulous dental arches, most of the information is derived from anatomical landmarks of the face. If no pre-extraction records are available, it becomes difficult to plan for rehabilitation of such cases. Aim: To evaluate whether the intercanthal and intercanine distances can be used as a reliable guide to determine proportions of maxillary anterior teeth during the prosthetic rehabilitation of edentulous dental arches. Materials and Methods: This observational study included 500 subjects aged between 18-52 years. The mesiodistal width of maxillary central incisors and intercanthal and intercanine distances were measured for all study subjects; their correlation was assessed using Karl Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) test. Results: The findings of the present study showed a positive and statistically significant correlation between the mesiodistal width of the maxillary left central incisor and the intercanthal distance among the study subjects (r-value=0.093, p-value=0.037). No significant correlation was observed among the studied parameters in terms of gender among the included subjects. Conclusion: In the absence of pre-extraction records of the patients, the ratio between the mesiodistal width of the maxillary left central incisor and the intercanthal distance may be considered as a plausible source of information by the clinicians to determine the proportions of maxillary anterior teeth during the prosthetic rehabilitation of edentulous dental arches.