Applicability of Bolton’s Analysis: A Study on Tibetan Community

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the anterior and overall ratios of Tibetan population residing at Mundgod and to compare the obtained ratios to the ratios available from Bolton’s study. Materials and Methods: The study consists of randomly selected 120 samples of Tibetan population ranging in age from 15 to 25 years, residing at Mundgod, Karnataka (60 males and 60 females). After measuring the width of each tooth, overall and anterior ratios were measured using formula proposed by Bolton. Statistical Analysis: Anterior and overall tooth ratios obtained from the study were compared to standard Bolton’s ratio by one-sample t-test. The differences between males and females were compared by independent samples t-test. Results: The overall ratio was significantly lower for both males (P = 0.03) and females (P = 0.001) at 90.20 and 88.93, respectively, when compared to the Bolton’s value of 91.3, whereas anterior ratio for males (P = 0.001) was significantly higher at 77.9 when compared to Bolton’s value of 77.2. The combined values of males and females when compared to Bolton’s value, i.e., the combined overall ratio (P = 0.001) was significantly lower at 89.5 and the combined anterior ratio (P = 0.016) was significantly higher at 78.7. Conclusion: In the present study, significant difference was observed between the overall and anterior ratios in Tibetan population as compared to the Bolton’s value. Therefore, Bolton’s original data cannot be applied for Tibetan population.