ABSTRACT

Aim: To evaluate Pont’s index applicability on Pakistani population as well as to evaluate the difference of two dental classes, i-e, class I and class II.

Methods: A total of 100 casts from the records of patients in Orthodontics Department, University of Lahore were included in this descriptive cross-sectional study. Combined maxillary incisal width and arch widths were measured from study models using a digital caliper. The predicted arch widths were estimated with the formula proposed by Pont. Paired sample t test, was used to calculate the difference of predicted value and the actual measured value of inter-premolar and inter molar widths on dental casts.

Results: The results revealed that there was no significant difference between the incisal width in dental class I and dental class II but highly significant difference between the predicted distance and measured distance between premolars in dental class I (M=5.69, Std. deviation= 2.18, p<.001) as well as in dental class II (M=5.35, Std. deviation= 3.46, p<.001).Significant difference was found between the predicted and measured distance between molars in dental class I (M=4.84, Std. deviation= 2.99, p<.001) as well as in dental class II (M=5.99, Std. deviation= 3.21, p<.001).

Conclusion: It was concluded that overestimated values of premolar and molar arch widths were found using Pont’s index calculations as in Pakistani population narrow arch was observed in both dental classes I and II as compared to the Pont’s predicted values.

Keywords: Pont's index, Incisor width, Arch width