A study on the dental arch characteristics of bialveolar protrusion patients using a three-dimensional digital model

Lee, Soo Kyung; Kwon, Oh Won; Sung, Jae Hyun

Abstract

Recent beauty trends have caused an increase in the number of bialveolar protrusion patients seeking treatment of lip protrusion. But studies of these patients are not common. Studies using their dental models are especially rare. Dental models have been measured manually or through a computer by digitizing two dimensional images of models. Nowadays, we are able to study dental models more easily and accurately by utilizing the three-dimensional (3-D) laser scanner in dentistry. An investigation was carried out to evaluate the characteristics of the dental arch in a bialveolar protrusion group in comparison with a normal group using 3-D digital models. The normal group was composed of 20 subjects who were selected from students of the School of Dentistry, Kyungpook National University. The bialveolar protrusion group was composed of 20 subjects who visited for treatment at the Department of Orthodontics, Kyungpook National University Hospital. Tooth size, arch width and arch length were measured digitally, and arch shape and the shape of the palate were drawn. Based on the results of this study, the differences of the arch characteristics in the bialveolar protrusion group were that the size of the teeth was larger, mandibular canine width and 1st premolar width were wider, and arch length was longer than in the normal group. And there were differences in the arch shape and the shape of palate between the bialveolar protrusion and normal groups.