A 26 year old female patient reports to the clinic with gummy smile. The complaint of this patient can be described best by which of the following?
Correct Answer: Pitch
Description: For this girl, who does not have anterior open bite despite her long-face skeletal pattern, the entire dentition is translated down, but a downward pitch posteriorly can be observed clinically. Note that the esthetic line of the dentition tilts down posteriorly relative to the intercommissure line and that there is greater exposure of gingiva posteriorly than anteriorly.
An excessive upward/downward rotation of the dentition relative to the lips and cheeks would be noted as pitch (up or down, in front or back). Pitch of the dentition relative to the facial soft tissues must be evaluated on clinical examination.
Pitch is revealed as the orientation of the palatal, occlusal and mandibular planes relative to the true horizontal.
Roll, which is analogous to the banking of an airplane, is described as rotation up or down on one side or the other.
Rotation of the jaw or dentition to one side or the other, around a vertical axis, produces a skeletal or dental midline discrepancy that is best described as yaw.
Category:
Dental
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