Rare study on teeth finds similarity between Emiratis, North Americans

Top Stories

Rare study on teeth finds similarity between Emiratis, North Americans
Dr Moza Mohammad

Dubai - The aim of the study is to measure the overall and anterior tooth size ratios in a group of Emiratis with Class I normal occlusion

By Staff Reporter

  • Follow us on
  • google-news
  • whatsapp
  • telegram

Published: Mon 24 Jul 2017, 11:04 PM

Last updated: Tue 25 Jul 2017, 1:17 AM

A first of its kind study in the UAE has found that there are no significant differences between the permanent teeth of Emiratis and those of other Caucasian populations namely North Americans.
The findings of the study will help in the diagnosis and treatment planning for orthodontic therapy (braces) of the people of the UAE.
Dr Moza Mohammad, specialist orthodontics, at the primary health care sector (PHC) of Dubai Health Authority (DHA), said a total of 521 dental casts were taken from Emirati patients (188 males and 333 females) at the orthodontic clinics of the authority to conduct the study.
Dr Moza explained that the tooth size analysis is defined as the degree of disproportional relationships between upper and lower teeth (in total or anterior) often called Bolton analysis. It is performed by measuring the mesiodistal width of each permanent tooth excluding second and third molars.
She added that patients with inter-arch tooth size discrepancies typically require special finishing steps and that Bolton analysis can accurately and reliably be performed in scanned digital models.
Since teeth characteristics vary between ethnic and race groups Dr Moza said it was of importance to identify them for the Emirati population.
"The aim of the study is to measure the overall and anterior tooth size ratios in a group of Emiratis with Class I normal occlusion, to estimate overall and anterior tooth size ratios in different malocclusion groups of Emiratis.
"To help compare overall and anterior tooth size ratios of Emiratis with the Bolton standards and to determine the distribution of overall and anterior tooth size ratios from Bolton mean values in all occlusion groups of Emiratis," she said.
The results found that when comparing the overall and anterior tooth size ratios between the samples of Emiratis with Class I normal occlusion and the Bolton standards, no statistically significant differences were found.
In conclusion, Dr Moza said: "Our findings indicated that there are no differences between the dimensions and relationships of the permanent teeth of Emiratis and those of other Caucasian populations namely North Americans, for which diagnostic standards have been developed and used in our profession many years ago."
This means that the existing relevant diagnostic tests can be used for the Emirati local population without any adjustment or adaptation. Dr Moza presented her study at the 93rd Congress of the European Orthodontic Society, which took place during June 5-10 in Montreux, Switzerland.
asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com


More news from