Introduction: Orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning is in a period of remarkable change, away
from a previous focus on dental occlusion and hard tissue relationship and towards a greater emphasis
on soft tissue adaptation and proportions. The re-emergence of the soft tissue paradigm in clinical
orthodontics has made smile analysis and designing, key elements in treatment planning. Hence the
purpose of this study was to establish the correlation between one of the many variables effecting smile;
the inter-premolar width with the buccal corridor area show of a patient during posed smile.
Material and Methods: 147 dental casts and frontal photographs were obtained and measured for the
inter-premolar width and buccal corridor area show. SPSS version 10 was used to calculate mean and SD
for age (in years), inter-premolar width and the inter-commissure width of subjects. Frequencies and
percentages were calculated for gender. Pearson correlation coefficient was determined for the interpremolar width with the buccal corridor area show. r value was determined between -1.0 and +1.0
Results: The p value for inter-premolar width and buccal corridor area show during posed smile was <
0.05 being significant.
Conclusions: It was concluded from the study that there is a statistically significant relationship
between inter-premolar width and the buccal corridor area show during posed smile