A proportional correlation index for space analysis in mixed dentition derived from an italian population sample

Aim. The aim of this study was to establish a specificproportional correlation method for space analysis inmixed dentition applicable to the Italian population.Material and Methods. A retrospective analysiswas performed on 300 plaster models taken fromItalian subjects, 156 females and 144 males, aged between12 and 25 years.Results. The variance analysis (ANOVA) showed a highcorrelation between the dimension of the mesio-distaldiameters of the four mandibular incisor and those of theupper canine and premolars. The correlation coefficientshowed the existence of a directly proportional, positiveintra-dependence between the two groups.Discussion. The correlation tables used in the presentstudy appear to be much more accurate if applied togroups of patients with similar ethnic backgrounds, thusexplaining the differences between the various predictionindexes found in previous publications.Conclusion. This study highlights the need to developspecific values to fit the features of the different ethnicgroups