Evaluation of Buccal Corridors in Patients Seeking Orthodontic Treatment in Different Types of Malocclusion at Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

There are many factors that make an appealing smile, and the buccal corridor is one of the most crucial smiling characteristics. Objective: To evaluate the width of buccal corridors in patients with different types of malocclusions seeking orthodontic treatment at tertiary care hospital LUMHS Jamshoro/Hyderabad. Methods: 93 subjects were studied. Patients were asked to smile fully to measure buccal corridor width with a vernier caliper. The buccal corridor was estimated by multiplying the maxillary interproximal width by the inner lip corner distance by 100. They were divided into 5 modes by buccal corridor percentage. i-e: Buccal corridor 2% (wide smile), Buccal corridor 10% (nearly a wide smile), Buccal corridor 15% (mediocre smile), Buccal corridor 22% (nearly a narrow smile), Buccal corridor above 22% (narrow smile). Angle's malocclusion classification classified all patients. Results: The mean age was 19.18. Males were 34.4% and females were 65.6%. With various types of buccal corridors among them, 37 participants were in a class I malocclusion, 43 were in the class II and 13 were in the class III malocclusion. 14 participants belongs to medium narrow buccal corridors (15.1%), 18 belongs to the medium buccal corridors (19.4%), 47 belongs to the medium broad buccal corridors (50.5%), and 14 belongs to broad buccal corridors (15.1%). The results showed that there was no significant association between these two variables having p-value 0.207. Conclusion: Medium broad buccal corridors were seen more frequently in various types of malocclusion