Assessment of Bilateral Symmetry of the Ala Tragus Line and its Reliability for Determining the Occlusal Plane Orientation: An in Vivo Study
European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine,
2020, Volume 7, Issue 11, Pages 4669-4678
Abstract
Background: Occlusal plane evaluation and placement establishes the basis for the prosthetic rehabilitation of occlusion using ala tragus plane most commonly. In routine practice dentists record the ala-tragus plane by marking same tragal points on both sides of the patient’s face. Considering the presence of bilateral asymmetries in most of the individuals, the certainty of bilateral symmetry of ala-tragus plane is absurd. The purpose of this study was to validate the bilateral symmetry of the ala-tragus plane by evaluating the differences between the levels of ala tragus line on left and right side of the face.Material and Method: 120 dentate individuals of age 45yrs and above were selected. Placing a fox plane intraorally; left and right lateral profile photographs were taken. The photographs were analyzed using Auto Cad computer software for difference between the levels of ala tragus line on both sides.
Results: There was evident difference between the mean values on both sides and there was no parallelism when comparing bilaterally. The line joining the ala and the midpoint of tragus had the lowest mean difference.
Conclusion: Within the limitations of the study, it can be concluded that there are asymmetries on ala-tragus planes on both sides of the face. If not taken into consideration this can result in inappropriate analysis of occlusal plane, hampering the prosthetic occlusion. Hence, the routinely practiced technique of marking the same tragal points on both sides of the face is questionable.
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