A Study to Determine the Correlation between the Intercondylar and Interdental Widths in South Indian Population: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Anatomical landmarks that remain fairly constant throughout an individual's life help determine the position of the artificial teeth closer to that of their predecessors. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether there is a relationship between the intercondylar widths (ICWs) and the interdental widths (IDWs) in the maxillary and mandibular arches in dentate subjects. The study was conducted in two parts, with 80 dentate subjects in total. Initially, in the first 40 subjects, a mathematical index was obtained by dividing the mean ICWs by the mean IDWs. In the second part, the ICW was measured and was used along with the index obtained in the first part, to estimate the IDW. These estimated values were then verified with the real IDWs by direct intraoral measurements. An arbitrary earpiece facebow (ARTEX® Gesichtsbogen Facebow) was used to measure the ICW. Statistics was done using SPSS software version 18 using Karl Pearson's correlation test and paired t-test. The IDW was correlated to the ICW; the maximal correlation was found between ICW and lower 6-6 width (L6-6W) (p value 0.033) and the lowest correlation was found between ICW and upper 6-6 width (U6-6W) (p value 0.046). ICW can be used as an additional guide to position denture teeth. This method suggested would result in a better buccolingual positioning of the posterior teeth, which would help avoid encroaching on the tongue space, thereby improving phonetics and speech with dentures. ICW bears a relationship with the IDWs in the maxillary and mandibular arches. ICW being a fairly constant anatomical landmark can be used as an additional guide aid in positioning the artificial teeth.