OCCURRENCE OF MIDLINE DIASTEMA AMONG CHILDREN OF DIFFERENT AGE, SEX AND RACE

Abstract

Maxillary midline diastema is a common aesthetic complaint of patients. Treating the midline diastema is a matter of concern for practitioners, as many different aetiologies are reported to be associated with it. The appearance of midline diastema as part of the normal dental development makes it difficult for practitioners to decide whether to intervene or not at an early stage. The incidence of midline diastema varies greatly with age group,gender, population and race. Objective: To date, no studies have addressed what young children notice when they see individuals with or without a midline diastema. Also, it is unclear at what age children notice, if they do, a midline diastema. Hence, objective data of where children fixate when looking at images with or without diastema will provide better information regarding children’s perception of such dental variations. Therefore, this study aimed to explore individual differences among preschool children and their educator’s eye movement patterns and visual attention to images with and without a midline diastema via EMHMM. We hypothesised that a picture with a midline diastema would hold or capture visual attention more effectively than an image without a midline diastema.