VARIABILIDAD EN MEDIDAS DE LOS ARCOS DENTALES Y SU RELACIÓN CON LA DIFERENCIACIÓN POBLACIONAL- REVISIÓN SISTEMÁTICA VARIABILITY IN MEASURES OF THE DENTAL ARCHES AND ITS RELATION TO POPULATION DIFFERENTIATION-A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Objective. To identify the methods of measurement and the variability of the measurements in the dental arches related to population variability, through a systematic review. Methods. A search was conducted in the specialized search engines ScienceDirect, Ebsco and PubMed using keywords and truncation "Dental arches" AND "Population" AND "measure". The articles obtained (1811) were screened and selected by title and abstract. The 31 articles that met the selection criteria were graded according to the internal validity and external validity to determine the level of evidence. Critical reading was guided by the items included in the assessment instrument for cross-sectional studies and CASPe format. Results. The 29 items were categorized by study design in longitudinal studies (6) and cross-sectional studies (23); the level of evidence obtained classified as: high quality (8), medium quality (6) and low quality (13). References of high methodological quality, the transverse diameter of the dental arches was estimated to average measurements of the distances between canines, premolars, first and second molar. It is emphasized that the benchmarks for measuring were mixed. The dental arch form was defined as: small, medium, and large sizes. Conclusions. The studies reviewed reported characteristics of dental arches for different ethnic groups in which diversity and variability in the forms and dimensions of the dental arches is evident.