ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to clarify morphologic characteristics between mandibular clinical arch forms in Koreans with normal occlusions. The study included data from 102 Koreans. The most facial portion of 13 proximal contact areas was digitized from photocopied images of the mandibular dental arches. Clinical bracket points were calculated for each tooth based on mandibular tooth thickness data. Four linear and two proportional measurements were taken. The dental arches were classified into ovoid, square and tapered forms. The frequency distributions of the three mandibular arch form classifications were determined and compared between male and female subjects. No significant differences in arch form size were found between the sexes. However, there were a few differences in molar width. It was useful to classify mandibular clinical arch forms present in normal occlusion samples into ovoid, square and tapered categories. The frequency of the ovoid form was the highest, and that of the square form was the second highest. The tapered arch form was found in less than 10 percent of subjects. No significant differences in their frequency distributions and dimensions were shown between males and females.