Do Bolton's ratios apply to a Spanish population?
BACKGROUND
Previous studies have shown that populations differ with respect to interarch tooth-size relationships, and differences in tooth sizes are not systematic. The aims of this study were to determine the Bolton ratios in Spanish subjects.


METHODS
We used a digital method and measured the casts to the nearest 0.05 mm. The sample consisted of 100 pairs of dental casts of Spanish subjects. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, t test, and 95% confidence intervals were used.


RESULTS
Anterior tooth-width ratios were 78.31% +/- 2.59% for women and 78.34% +/- 2.16% for men (P = .955). Total tooth-width ratios were 91.91% +/- 2.04% for women and 92.10% +/- 1.73% for men (P = .668). No significant differences were found in tooth-width ratios according to sex, so the sexes were pooled and new ratios calculated: 78.32% +/- 2.45%, CI 95% (77.83%-78.81%), for the anterior tooth-width ratio and 91.97% +/- 1.95%, CI 95% (91.58%-92.35%), for the total tooth-width ratio.


CONCLUSIONS
Twenty-one percent of the subjects had a significant anterior discrepancy (greater than 2 SD from Bolton's), and 5% had a total discrepancy. Differences between Spanish values and Bolton's were significant, and specific standards for Spanish people might be needed.
Paredes
Vanessa
V
Department of Orthodontics, School of Dentistry, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain. clinicaparedes@medynet.com
Gandia
Jose Luis
JL
Cibrian
Rosa
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009811:Odontometry; D012016:Reference Values; D012737:Sex Factors; D013030:Spain; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014070:Tooth / Q000033:anatomy & histology*