Changes in marginal ridge alignment from early childhood to late adulthood in an untreated Caucasian population using the Iowa growth study sample

Due to the limited amount of research about the alignment of a person’s bite as they grow, it was important to look at how teeth erupt into the mouth from a child to an adult (2nd decade). Therefore, we used dental models from 38 people from the Iowa Growth Study to measure height differences as the teeth erupt into the mouth and align themselves as each person grows and matures. Also, we wanted to see if any differences occurred between males and females in their tooth alignment measurements. A specific tool was fabricated to make accurate measurements to reduce the risk of ambiguity that could introduced with a less accurate tool. Because a large age range existed we split the ages into three groups: Group1 (5 – 9yrs), Group 2 (>9 – 14) and Group 3(15 – 29). Our findings indicated little to no differences between males and females in how the teeth erupt and align during growth. Also Group 1 had a much higher number of level (0 – 0.5 mm) teeth compared to Group 2. In addition to little differences between males and females, height differences between permanent teeth showed a levelling trend as the individuals proceeded through growth into adulthood (2nd decade).