Dentistry and Dental Materials

Introduction: Canines are the most important tooth in the oral cavity both functionally and anatomically so whenever an orthodontic treatment is completed canines are given most importance. Since the prevalence of maxillary canine impaction is found to be between 1-3% so in cases with canine impactions cuspidization of premolars is done. Canines have been demonstrated to display greater sexual dimorphism in crown size than any other tooth. Keeping those facts in mind one should know the average size of both maxillary and mandibular canines in a given population.

 

Objectives: Th e objective of this study is to determine mean mesiodistal width of maxillary and  mandibular canines.

 

Methods: Data was collected from patients referred to the Department of Orthodontics, Karachi Medical and Dental College, (Karachi Pakistan). Verbal informed consent was taken from the patients. Mesiodistal width of maxillary and mandibular canines were measured on the casts using digital Vernier caliper. All the fi ndings were recorded on a predesigned proforma.

 

Results: A total of 131 patients were screened for this study. Th e average age of the patients was 18.90±1.523 years. Mean mesiodistal width of maxillary canine was found to be 8.502mm with standard deviation of 0.615mm. Mean mesiodistal width of mandibular canine was found to be 7.444mm with standard deviation of 0.764mm.

 

Conclusions: Th is study showed that the canines are not mirror images of one another. Sexual dimorphism was also found in the mesiodistal widths of maxillary and mandibular canines. It can also be concluded from the study that males have greater mesiodistal widths of canines than females.