Intrauterine maxillary development and maxillary dental arch biometry: a fetal cadaver study

Abstract

Introduction: This study's goal was to determine normal maxillary development on fetal cadavers.

Materials and methods: This study was carried out on 45 fetuses aged between the 17th - 40th weeks of gestation (24 male, 21 female). The distance between the widest left and right points of the maxillary dental arch (MDA) on the transverse plane, the distance of the papilla incisiva (PI) to the widest left and right points of the maxillary dental arch (MDAW), and the PI and posterior nasal spine (PNS) were measured. The average arch forms of the MDA were created according to trimester groups using the MATLAB program. The one-way ANOVA test was used to make a comparison between trimester groups, and ANOVA followed by post hoc analysis using the Bonferroni test was applied for comparisons. Pearson's correlation analysis was used for correlation analysis.

Results: The data in the present study did not differ between genders. In the comparison between trimester groups, we did not find any difference between the 3rd trimester and full-term groups only in the PI-MDAW measurement. Other parameters increased with age. In the correlation analysis, the measurement values by age showed a strong positive correlation. The MDAW exhibited the best correlation with age (r_week = 0.919). When the average MDA forms created using the MATLAB program were evaluated, it was observed that the PI-MDAW of the average MDA in the 3rd trimester and full-term intersected.

Conclusions: This study provides a basis for a better understanding of fetal maxillary growth processes and can be useful to standardize the detection of malformations or intrauterine growth restrictions.

Keywords: Maxillary dental arch; Papilla incisiva; Posterior nasal spine.