The correlation between the inner canthal distance and maxillary mesiodens in children

Purpose

This study was conducted to explore the possibility of detecting the presence of impacted teeth in the upper midline using facial morphometric measurements.

Materials and Methods

The study included 260 children, aged 2–13 years, who visited our university hospital. To measure facial morphology, facial photographs were taken along with a ruler, and the correlation between each facial measurement point and the presence of mesiodens was statistically analyzed.

Results

Each measurement point increased in a time-dependent manner and there was a correlation between age and distance. In contrast, the ratio of the inner-canthal distance to the outer-canthal distance was not associated with age. Moreover, an increase in this ratio suggested the possible presence of mesiodens. Since age is associated with the presence of mesiodens within the inner canthal distance, a multivariate analysis that considered the effects of age and sex was performed and showed that the inner canthus/outer canthus ratio was 0.45. When the odds ratio of the presence of mesiodens in the group of less than 1.0 was set to 1.0, the odds ratio of the group of 0.45 or more was 5.36.

Conclusion

The presence of mesiodens can be predicted by measuring the ratio of the inner canthal distance to the outer canthal distance.