Relation between the facial contour form, the dental arches and the upper central incisors shape in dental students from Universidad del Valle - Cali

SUMMARYObjective: To determine the relationship ifany between the facial contour, the form ofthe dental arches and the morphology of theupper central incisors in dental students ofthe University del Valle.Methods: This is an observational descriptivestudy that determined the relationbetween the facial contour, the dentalarches and the upper central incisorsshapes through digital photographs in 48dental students (24 women and 24 men) atUniversity del Valle belonging to a mixedethnic group predominantly Caucasoid. Thecoefficient of contingency was used to establishthe possible association between theforms of the face, the dental arches and thecentral incisors. A p<0.05 was consideredstatistically significant.Results: The oval form was the mostfrequent facial contour (50%), includingthe upper (77,1%) and lower dental arch(85,4%) and the upper right central incisor(41,7%) were also prevalent. By gender,the facial contour presented significantdifferences, given that in women was moreprevalent the round shape (29,2%) while inmen it was the square form (37,5%); neverthelessthe oval form was present in themajority of cases in both male and female.Conclusions: The oval form was the mostfrequent facial contour, dental arches andthe upper central incisors form. It wasnot possible to determine the form of thepermanent upper central incisors usingthe facial contour type or the form of thedental arches.Keywords: Forensic dentistry, dental identification,facial contour, dental arch, uppercentral incisors shape.