Evaluation of correlation between facial midline and dental midline

Introduction: Objective of this study was To determine the role of facial midline as a guide for positioning maxillary dental midline for patients during fabrication of prosthesis. Furthermore the study will help in indicating character as well as perception of discrepancies between dental and facial midline. Materials and methods: A total of 40 dentate patients with the age range 18 to 28 years were selected randomly. No fixed proportion was proposed. The patients having permanent dentition from 2nd molar to 2nd molar in maxillary arch were included. However patients having midline diastema, orthodontic treatment, or any cranio-facial anomaly were excluded. The patients were observed to check if the maxillary dental midline coincides with the facial midline. The facial midline was examined by marking points between nasion till pognion including centre of philtrum. Result: The results of the present study showed that 65% patients had their maxillary dental midline coinciding with facial midline. Conclusions: From the results of the present study it was con¬cluded that the facial midline was in coincidence with the maxillary dental midline. This result can act as a reliable tool for establishing maxillary dental midline while fabricating fixed prosthesis or during oral rehabilitation in edentulous patients.