Nasal width and incisive papilla as guides for the selection and arrangement of maxillary anterior teeth.

A investigation of 64 Angle Class I, skeletal Class I dental students showed that the interalar nasal width is a reliable guide for selecting the mold of anterior teeth, and that the incisive papilla provides a stable anatomic landmark for arranging the labial surfaces of the central incisors at 10 mm anterior to the posterior border of the papilla. The mesiodistal width of the set of anterior teeth (four incisor and the mesial halves of the canines) should be determined by adding 7 mm to the patient's nasal width (Fig. 8). The tips of canines on the horizontal plane, should be set on a line which passes through the posterior border of the incisive papilla (Fig. 9). The distance between them should equal the patient's nasal width, so that from the frontal view they would each seem to lie on a perpendicular line drawn from each of ala of the nose (Fig. 6).