Digital analysis of anterior dental esthetic parameters in patients with bilateral maxillary lateral incisor agenesis.

OBJECTIVE

To analyze anterior dental esthetic parameters-width/height ratio (WHR), gingival zenith (GZ), and apparent contact dimension (ACD)-in patients with maxillary lateral incisor agenesis (MLIA) bilaterally treated with space closure and recontouring of the canines, or with implant-supported prostheses.

METHODS

Fifty-two participants were allocated into three groups as follows: MLIA patients (N = 18) treated with teeth recontouring (RG); MLIA patients (N = 10) treated with implants (IG); and volunteers without agenesis (N = 24), who served as controls (CG). Dental casts of all patients were obtained and electronically scanned. Digital images were analyzed with 3Shape A/S OrthoAnalyser software (Copenhagen, Denmark). Shapiro-Wilk test, Spearman correlation, and Kruskal-Wallis statistical tests (p < 0.05) were used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS

Although IG presented smaller means when compared with RG and CG, no statistical differences were found for WHR among groups (p > 0.05). Concerning GZ, RG presented more discrepancies than IG and CG, with statistically significant differences (p = 0.0165). IG presented statistically significant differences for the ACD in comparison with RG and CG (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Based on the results of this study, patients treated with space closure and teeth recontouring (RG) were shown to be closest to patients without agenesis (CG) in relation to the anterior dental esthetic parameters evaluated.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE

The digital analysis of esthetic principles, such as those investigated in this study involving maxillary incisor agenesis, is paramount to successful esthetic treatment planning. The results of the present study, as well as those found in the literature, indicate that clinicians should use esthetic parameters, such as those investigated herein, when treatment planning extensive oral rehabilitation cases.