evaluation of crown size distribution of upper anterior teeth in students and staffs of shahid behshti university of medical sciences

background & aim: the artificial teeth are produced with same standards for all the ethnics and countries in the world. the purpose of this study was to establish a normative size distribution in a group of students and staffs of shahid beheshti university of medical sciences. methods & materials: 320 individuals participated in this descriptive study. a vernier caliper was used to measure the widest mesiodistal portion and the longest incisogingival portion of the crown directly in the mouth. a matrix band was marked to determine the total width of six anterior teeth on a curve. results: the present study showed that 33% of the studied sample in male group, had maxillary central width in the range of 8.5-8.99mm and 44.8% in female group were in the range of 8.00-8.49mm. the mean width of six upper anterior teeth was 52.56 mm in males with the range of 46-58.1 and 50.4 mm in females with the range of 44.42 – 55.28. differences between antimeres are seen in laterals’ width and length and central’s length. male–female comparisons indicated the presence of sexual dimorphism. conclusion: many odontometric characteristics of this sample proved to be distinctly different from the corresponding characteristics of other studies with different racial origins this would mean that commonly available standard moulds might not to be fully suitable for all racial and ethnic group. j dent sch 2005 23(3): 3