The validity of Pont’s index application to both chinese and egyptian populations (a pilot study)

Abstract

Correlation between tooth size and dental arch size plays an important role in Orthodontic problems. Many indices were done elaborated by various researchers. One of those was Pont, who determined a method for the ideal dental arch width prediction, and this method has become known as Pont’s index. The aim of this study is to determine whether Pont’s index could be applied on to both Chinese and Egyptian populations, and to compare the results with those calculated from other studies of different ethnic groups. A sample of 53 dental subjects were collected from Tongji hospital in Wuhan, China with age range from 14 to 21 years old, and another sample of 53 dental subjects were collected from Cairo university Hospital in Cairo, Egypt with age range from 16 to 23 years old. Measurements were determined directly from plaster casts, including mesiodistal width of the four maxillary incisors, interpremolar and intermolar maxillary arch width, as stated by Pont. Correlation coefficients calculated between the measured interpremolar width and the calculated one according to Pont’s index and measured intermolar width and the calculated one according to Pont’s index respectively, were low in both Chinese (R values: 0.096 and 0.12) and Egyptian (R values: 0.013 and 0.21) samples. It was concluded that Pont’s index could not be applied to determine the ideal arch width values in both Chinese and Egyptian populations.