Abstract
BACKGROUND: One of the important concepts in aesthetic dentistry is "the principle of gradation," where each tooth appears proportionally narrower than its mesial neighbor as the eye moves laterally from the midline. Various mathematical and physiological theories determine the widths of maxillary anterior teeth. OBJECTIVES: The study aims to evaluate the prevalence of the golden percentage, the recurring esthetic dental (RED) proportion, and the newly proposed Tarulatha-Ruchi (TR) proportion among dental students from Gujarat state. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 100 Gujarati students with aesthetically pleasing smiles, ages 18-25 years, were selected. Standard frontal-view photographs were taken with a DSLR camera, displaying maxillary anterior teeth and gingiva in centric occlusion. Adobe Photoshop CS6 was used to measure tooth widths, and the values were analyzed statistically. RESULTS: The exact golden percentage was not followed in any subjects. The percentages for the maxillary central incisor, lateral incisor, and canine were 22%, 16%, and 12%, respectively. The RED proportion did not exist, increasing distally from 69% to 78.5%. For the TR proportion, central incisors did not follow the suggested quotient of 0.3; a quotient of 0.4 for the lateral incisor was present in 99% of subjects; a quotient of 0.3 for the canine was present in 25% of subjects; and a suggested quotient of 0.6 for the combined width of the central and lateral incisors was present in none of the subjects. CONCLUSION: The golden percentage and TR proportion can be applied if adjusted. RED did not exist among participants. A proportional constant of 0.4 for the lateral incisor by TR proportion can be used to build a missing or peg-shaped lateral incisor.