A Comparative Study of Arch Width, Overjet and Overbite between Bilateral Congenital Missing Lateral Incisor and Normal Class I Occlusion

Abstract

Permanent lateral incisors have been considered as major missing teeth in the mouth. The main aim of
the present study is to conduct a comparative study of maxillary and mandibular arch widths, overjet and
overbite for a sample with missing lateral incisors and normal class I occlusion.
The sample of the study comprises sixty pairs of study models of both genders, which were separated into
two groups. The first group consisted of thirty casts of bilateral congenital missing lateral incisors, while the
second group consisted of thirty casts of the class I occlusion. The intercanine width, interpremolar width,
intermolar width, overjet and overbite were measured for the sixty samples.
The results of this study demonstrate a significant reduction in maxillary and mandibular arch width
in bilateral missing lateral Incisors as compared with normal class I group. The results also revealed a
significant reduction in overjet and overbite in bilateral missing lateral incisors as compared with normal
class I group. A significant difference was also reported between the two groups based on gender difference
in the maxillary arch width. Conversely, non-significant difference was found in the mandibular arch width.
The present study also shows non-significant difference based on gender difference in overjet and overbite
in the two groups.