Objectives: To investigate the characteristics of periodontal soft tissue appearance and their relationship to upper anterior tooth shape and gingival clinical parameters in a Chinese population. Methods: The study will recruit 30 systemic and periodontally healthy subjects, aged 18-35, from the Prince Philip Dental Hospital. Periodontal probing depth (PD), bleeding on probing (BOP) and tooth 13-23 attached gingiva width (GW) and crown width to crown length ratio (CW/CL) will be measured and analyzed. Results: Thus far a total of 20 subjects (9 males) with the mean age of 22.58 (SD=3.93) have been recruited during the first 3 months of the study. The mean PD of these subjects was 1.66mm (SD=0.28) and mean BOP was 16.5% (SD=0.11). The mean GW was 5.49mm (SD=1.34). The mean GW was significantly correlated with CW/CL of tooth 22 (r=0.508, p=0.037) and 23 (r=0.595, p=0.012). No gender differences were found among all the above variables. Conclusions: The preliminary results indicate the GW was associated with shape of tooth 22 and 23. GW was not affected by gender.

Session: Periodontal Research