The application of the Golden Proportion to dental aesthetics was first written about by the author in 1978.
Those humble beginnings have sown the seeds of a proliferation of Golden Proportion studies undertaken in three
main directions, prosthodontic, surgical and orthodontic.
Winston Senior, an eminent orthodontist in Manchester, UK, was the first orthodontist to appreciate the application
of the Golden Proportion to orthodontics. It is with thanks to his enthusiastic lectures and case reports that
so many orthodontists have taken a strong interest in the application of the Golden Proportion. In his most recent
article he shows how ideal dental /facial aesthetics can be planned by combining the Golden Proportion with cephalometric
analysis, plastic surgery and dental restorations. In the same article he shows a Golden Proportion relationship
of the width between the buccal surfaces of the two upper canines to the width between the disto buccal corners
of the upper first molars as in fig. 9
Ricketts 1982 showed numerous cephalometric tracings of orthodontic landmarks in the Golden Proportion. He also
showed amazing growth patterns in the Golden Proportion which radiated from fixed cephalometric points.
Dr McArthur 1985 wrote an article "Maxillary and Mandibular Teeth Widths" in which he explains that
the average ratio of upper central incisor to lower central incisor is 1.62. The author's response to this observation,
published in the Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry was to thank Dr Mcarthur for another good example of the Golden
Proportion.
Shoemaker in 1987 wrote a series of articles promoting the use of the Golden Proportion as an adjunct to cosmetic
Dentistry.
Amoric 1989 in his article "Le nombre d'or" showed many Golden Proportions in cephalometric tracings
at various stages of facial growth and also included geometrical propositions.
The Annals of Plastic Surgery 1989 include a fascinating study by Kawakami et al who investigated the Golden
Proportion balance between eyes, nose and mouth in the facial appearance of typical Japanese individuals and, comparing
the ratios to Caucasians, each ratio was then used for pre and post-operative aesthetic analysis using Moire' topography.
Dr Jack Preston 1993, although initially critical of the application of the Golden Proportion,. has since been
influenced by the studies of Stephen Marquardt, and is now in total support of the concept *Dr. Preston Jack.
Personal communication, 1998. Marquardt developed a Golden Proportion Pentagon Grid for Facial plastic surgery.
Preston nevertheless showed a very close Golden Proportion relationship between the lower lateral incisor and the
upper central incisor in his article, above.
Dr Yosh Jefferson 1996 illustrates an article in the Journal of General Orthodontics with many Golden Proportion
diagrams and computer generated photographs giving an ideal picture of the whole head. His work is also supported
with cephalometric tracings.
In contrast Gillen 1994 measured the widths of the incisors and stated that there was no Golden Proportion
correlation. In his article he clearly states that his measurements were of "the entire widths of the incisors",
and acknowledges that the Golden Proportion phenomenon applies only to the widths as "seen". This is
such a common misconception that it is worth repeating that the Golden Proportion phenomenon applies to the widths
of teeth as seen from the front and not the actual widths as measured.
The author's work on the Golden Proportion is now compulsory study in many dental schools. |
BACK