Three-dimensional geometric morphometric measurement and classification of maxillary central incisors

Abstract Objectives: Classify and obtain the representative shape of the maxillary central incisor by three -dimensional geometric morphological method. Materials and methods: One hundred three dental plaster models of Chinese juvenile were scanned by a 3D laser scanner, including 51 males and 52 females. The mean value model of all samples was obtained by using Procrustes superimposition method. All samples were classified by k-means cluster analysis. Principal component analysis was performed to assess shape parameters. With the help of thin plate spline (TPS), we explored the anatomical significance of each principal component. Results: All samples were classified into four groups, the number of each group was 14、19、38、32. And obtained the mean value model of all samples and each group. The first ten principal components comprised 86.27% shape variation of maxillary central incisor. Conclusions: It is feasible to classify the maxillary central incisor and calculate the representative mean value model by using Three-dimensional geometric morphometric, which provides the theoretical basis for developing the standard crown data of the maxillary central incisor in CAD/CAM.