Determination of Mandibular Arch Form During Mixed Dentition Using Custom Made Template in Sulaimani Governorate

Objectives: The dental arch form and dimensions change continuously and systematically during human growth and development, but this decreases adulthood. During mixed dentition, changes in dental arch forms and the occlusion occur due to teeth movements and growth of the alveolar bone. Usually, changes in the mandibular arch are followed by changes in the maxillary arch. The research aimed to determine the most frequent mandibular dental arch form and its relationship with gender.           Methods: The mandibular arch forms of 115 schoolchildren with mixed dentition were examined using their dental casts. Adobe Photoshop© (21.0.0, 2019) program was used to construct a template from photographs of the casts and printed on transparent paper to overlay the casts. The data were collected and calculated using statistical software to determine the frequencies of different arch forms among the studied sample.       Results: The sample was composed of 61 males (53%) and 54 females (47%). The oval arch form was the most frequent type with 70 cases (60.9%), followed by the square arch form with 38 cases (33%), and finally the tapered arch form with 7 cases (6.1%). No significant relationship was found between the arch form and the gender of the participants.   Conclusions: Oval arch form was the most predominant type of arch form of the mandible in the mixed dentition, and there was no relationship with gender.