Relationship of crown forms and gingival characteristics in Taiwanese

Objective: This investigation was to analyze the relationship between the form of clinical crowns in maxillary anterior sextant of permanent dentition and clinical characteristics of gingiva in adult Taiwanese. Methods: Subjects devoid of destructive periodontal disease were recruited for this study (58 males, 54 females, 19-29 y/o). After oral hygiene instruction and supragingival calculus removal were performed on all subjects, impressions were taken and poured in yellow die stone. The width (at the apical third-CW) and the length (CL) of the crowns of 6 anterior teeth were measureed from stone models, A CW/CL ratio was calculated for each tooth and averaged for each tooth region. Ten percent in each tail of each tooth region was arbitrarily chosen as having either a long-narrow (L) or a short-wide (W) form teeth. Clinical parameters of soft tissue including probing depth, clinical attachment level, width of keratinized gingiva, gingival thickness, and gingival angle of individual tooth were examined. Subjects in groups of W and L were compared and analyzed using one-way ANOVA t-test. Results: The analyses demonstrated that Taiwanese with a short-wide form of anterior maxillary sextant teeth as compared to individuals with a long-narrow crown form had significantly (p<0. 05) wider zone of keratinized gingiva,thicker gingival thickness, and larger gingival angle. Conclusion: The relationships between crown forms and gingival characteristics in Taiwanese from our observations demonstrated that subjects with long, narrow teeth have a comparatively thin periodontium.