Age differences in adult dentoalveolar heights.

A previous study of age differences in facial morphology in a dentate sample representing young, middle, and old age (Tallgren and Solow, 1987) indicated an increase in lower anterior face height during adulthood. The aim of the present study was to examine in detail the accompanying age differences in dentoalveolar heights. The material consisted of lateral head films of 191 dentate Finnish women divided into the age groups 20-29, 30-49, and 50-81 years. The present study comprised 26 variables calculated from digitized reference points. The maxillary and mandibular anterior dentoalveolar heights were significantly larger in the middle and old age groups than in the young group, and the mean differences were of the same magnitude for the maxilla and the mandible. Analysis of the dentoalveolar components showed that in the mandible the extra-alveolar height of the incisors was significantly larger in the two older age groups than in the young group, while no significant differences were found in the maxilla. The mean differences in anterior mandibular ridge height between the older age groups and the young group were smaller than in the maxilla. No significant differences in dentoalveolar morphology were observed between the middle and the old age groups.