• Piyarat Chalermsuksant D.D.S., M.S.
• Orapin Kaewplung D.D.S., Ph.D. (Maxillofacial Prosthodontics)

Objective To study on the satisfaction of Thai dentists based on different anthropometric proportions
of upper anterior teeth.

Materials and methods A computer-aided design program was used to generate 6 images to set the
width of the upper central incisor at 24 % of the intercanine distance or 1:6.6 of interpupillary distance.
Once the width of the upper central incisor was obtained, the reading was used for calculating the
width of the lateral incisor and the canine by using the tooth-to-tooth width proportions method at
variation 62%, 70% and 80%. The 6 images obtained were placed in random sequence in the questionnaires
and the same sequence was used throughout the survey to evaluate the dentistûs esthetic satisfaction
based on the visual analogue scale. The results were statistically analyzed using One-way analysis of
variance and the Indepent t-test. The first method was used to compare the mean satisfaction scores
between the images and the years of experience and the second method was used to compare the mean
satisfaction scores between gender, educational level and field of specialty. The statistically significant
level was set at 0.05.

Results It was found that the width of upper central incisor based on 24% of the intercanine distance
with 80% proportion was the most satisfied in this study. The most satisfied mean score is 69.4 ± 16.0.
The differences between the anthropometric proportion and the gender of dentist have made influence
to the dentistûs esthetic satisfaction significantly (p < 0.05). On the other hand, educational level, field
of specialty and experiences in dental work did not have significant effect on dentistûs esthetic
satisfaction (p < 0.05).

Conclusion The knowledge obtained from this research could be the preliminary guideline for the
treatment planning in the esthetic dentistry to determine the width and the proportion of the upper
anterior teeth.

(CU Dent J. 2011;34:9-20)