Mesiodistal diameters in upper and lower premolars of population with normal occlusion. Matanzas

Abstract

Background: The relations between dental arch length and teeth mesioistal size have been studied using several different methods but all of them began from the teeth mesiodistal diameters in different populations with normal occlusion.
Aim: Determining mesiodistal diameter of upper and lower premolars.
Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out in teenagers with normal occlusion, using a sample of 362 students, 174 female, and 188 males, aged 12, 13 and 14 years, chosen in the basic high schools of the city of Matanzas. Measures were taken using a caliper, directly in the mouth from the mesial contact point to the distal one at the level of its bigger diameter. The used variables were age, gender and upper and lower premolar mesiodistal diameter.
Results: the measures obtained were, in upper back teeth: first right premolars: 6,9 mm; first left premolars: 7,0 mm; second right premolars: 6,8; second left premolars: 6,9.  In lower back teeth: first right premolars: 7,1 mm; first left premolars: 7,0 mm, with the same measure for the second right and left premolars.
Conclusions: most of the lower premolars were bigger than their upper homologues. There it was a significant difference between genders in relation to the sizes of the lower right premolars and the second lower left premolars. There it was a predominance of bigger mesiodistal sizes in male premolars than in female ones.