The significance of hard palate dimensions and sex differences in determining maxillary anterior teeth width

Background/Aim: Selecting appropriately sized maxillary anterior teeth is of great importance for achieving satisfactory outcomes in complete denture therapy. When pre-extraction records are unavailable, clinicians use recommended anatomical landmarks for this purpose. Predictive value of these parameters in previous studies was inconsistent. The aim of this study was to assess sex-specific associations between selected hard palate measurements and the mesiodistal width of maxillary anterior teeth (ATW) in an adult Bosnian-Herzegovinian population. Materials and Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study used 180 maxillary casts (114 women, 66 men). Recorded palatal dimensions included hamular distance, hard palate length, and distances from the incisive papilla to the right and left hamular notches. The mesiodistal width of the six maxillary anterior teeth was summed to obtain ATW. Sex differences were assessed using independent-samples and paired-samples t-tests. Associations between palatal measurements and ATW were evaluated using simple and multiple linear regression (α=0.05). Results: Men had higher mean values for almost all palatal and dental variables, with no significant difference observed for the left lateral incisor (p=0.155). ATW was significantly greater in men compared with women (t=3.96, p<0.001). Papilla-hamular notch distances (p=0.002) were significantly associated with ATW in men, while all palatal measurements showed significant simple correlations (p≤0.002) with ATW in women. In multiple regression, no palatal dimension remained independently predictive in men (R²=0.173, p=0.019), while hamular distance was the only significant predictor in women (β=0.219, p=0.020; R²=0.169, p<0.001). Conclusions: Hard palate measurements show sex-specific relationships with the width of maxillary anterior teeth. Although several dimensions have significant associations with ATW, their predictive value is modest. Therefore, these parameters may serve only as supportive guides when selecting artificial teeth.