Introduction: Understanding of the dentogingival interface allows the clinicians to achieve a more satisfactory esthetic outcome during interdisciplinary diagnosis and treatment planning of beautiful smile.
Aim: To evaluate the gingival variations in the maxillary anterior teeth by quantifying the following esthetic parameters; marginal gingival zenith positions (MGZP), gingival zenith level (GZL) and to assess the difference of these parameters among males and females.
Materials & Methods: A total of 20 maxillary casts (10 males and 10 females) were analyzed. Digital caliper and protractor was used to measure; the marginal Gingival Zenith Position (MGZP) from the vertical bisected midline (VBM) of 120 sites in the maxillary anterior teeth, the Gingival Zenith Level (GZL) of 40 sites related to the lateral incisors, the data were analyzed using Mann Whitney u test.
Results: According to the mean, all the maxillary anterior teeth displayed distal (MGZP) from (VBM), with mean average of 1 mm in the central incisors, 0.4 mm in the lateral incisors, and 0.2 mm in the canines among the study samples. Comparisons between males and females presented no statistically significant differences. The Gingival zenith level (GZL) showed statistically significant differences between right and left teeth in males and females and revealed positive values in all 40 sites (100%) when appeared coronal to the gingival aesthetic line. The mean of the males and females (GZL) in mm were 1.05 and 0.95 respectively with no statistically significant differences between both gender.
Conclusions: The marginal gingival zenith position (MGZP) is located distally in all anterior teeth. The gingival zenith line (GZL) was found to be coronal to the gingival aesthetic line in all teeth with significant differences between right and left sides within each group (males, females). In all recorded parameters there were no differences between males and females. These clinical parameters applied to the gingival contours may serve as reference points during esthetic anterior oral rehabilitation.