Objective: To investigate the dental arch width of the Southern Chinese across buccal cusps, central fossae, or lingual cusps and compare these values with study findings in different populations and using different definitions.
Materials and methods: The dental arch dimensions of study casts of an unselected sample from a 12-year-old Hong Kong Oral Health Survey of 12-year-old children (n = 358; 210 boys and 148 girls) were measured.
Results: When compared with Caucasians, the Southern Chinese were characterized by a wider dental arch width. However, variations were great. All maxillary and mandibular male arch widths were significantly larger than female arch widths, except at the incisor regions.
Conclusion: This study yielded a database about dental arch widths by which different studies on these widths can be compared.