ABSTRACT
Several systems for designating and encoding teeth have been used in dentistry for more than 130 years. [1] In our profession, patients are the primary stakeholders. However, the prevailing tooth numbering system, like the Federation Dentaire Internationale (FDI), is designed focussing the clinicians and does not include the perspective of patients, who have little idea regarding the depicted number of the tooth to be treated, written on the prescription given to them. Our undergraduate students also often get confused during their clinical work regarding the designated four segments in the current FDI tooth numbering system. This sometimes results in misinterpretation, leading to clinical mishaps. This innovative TT (Tikku and Tikku) system has been designed to fulfil the requirement for a more simpler and coherent system that is self?reflecting and includes the perception of the patients or any other concerned non?dental professional so that they relate easily to this system. Named after its inventors, the TT tooth numbering system has a simple and unique design that can also be implemented for wide clinical and forensic applications.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate the buccal corridor in smile esthetics and to correlate it with underlying hard tissues. Materials and Methods: Posed smiling frontal photographs, digital posterior-anterior (PA) cephalograms, and study models of 25 males and 25 females in age range of 18-25 years were taken. Photographs were evaluated for smile esthetics by eight orthodontists, eight plastic surgeons, eight beauticians and eight lay people to group them into three groups with least attractive, average and attractive smile and buccal corridor width was measured. Digital PA cephalograms were transferred on Nemo-tech software for frontal facial analysis. Intercanine and intermolar widths were measured on upper study model with the help of a digital calliper. Results: The buccal corridor width was least in attractive smile group and maximum in least attractive smile group. The buccal corridor width had a negligible correlation with hard tissues and a mild to moderate inverse correlation with intercanine and intermolar widths within the groups. Conclusion: As the amount of buccal corridor display was increased, smiling images were scored less attractive by the evaluators. The buccal corridor is not influenced by underlying skeletal hard tissues but have mild to moderate inverse correlation with the intercanine and intermolar width.