M. KERN* and H. MENZEL (Dept. of Prosthodontics, Albert-Ludwigs University, Freiburg, FRG)
In full denture prosthetics the anterior teeth are often selected with regard to the gender of the patient because it has been stated that the tooth shapes of males and females differ. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether dentists can determine the gender by looking at black and white photographs of the anterior teeth.
Standardized intraoral photographs of the anterior teeth of 204 white dental students (102 females and 102 males) ranging in age from 18 to 30 years were made. Black and white enlargements were given to five dentists in private practice and to five dentists in the university dental school. They were asked to decide whether the teeth belonged to a male or female. No further information was given. After two to three weeks the dentists were given the same black and white photographs in order to make a second decision on the gender without having any record of their first decisions.
The correctness of the decision of the dentists in private practice varied from 53.4% to 59.3% for the first decision and from 51.0% to 63.2% for the second decision. The correctness of the decision of the dentists in the university dental school varied from 46.6% to 55.9% for the first decision and from 51.0% to 59.8% for the second decision. The SPEARMAN correlation analysis showed that there was a statistically significant correlation between the gender as determined by the dentists and the actual gender of the person.
The reproducibility of the dentists' decisions varied between 53.9% and 76.5%, respectively. The SPEARMAN correlation analysis showed that there was a statistically significant correlation between the first and second decision of the dentists. However, the dentists' decisions were wrong in at least 36.8% of the decisions (and up to 53.4%). Therefore. from a practical Point of view using gender as a guideline for anterior tooth selection should be reconsidered as it might lead to wrong selections in a large number of cases.