Three-dimensional analysis of the correlation between anterior tooth form and face shape.

Abstract

Traditional esthetic guidelines and denture-tooth selection protocols suggest a correlation between a patient's face and anterior tooth shapes. This study examined the correlation between face shape, maxilla shape, and maxillary anterior tooth form with fully automated algorithms. Three-dimensional digital datasets of the faces and maxillae were obtained from 117 people. Correlation was analyzed using canonical correlation analysis, ridge regression, and the Hausdorff-distance. A weak but not statistically significant correlation between face and tooth shape could be identified. However, a good prediction of tooth shape from the facial data was not possible. The described approach revealed a weak correlation between face shape and tooth shape, but the outcome was not accurate enough for clinical use.