History and Researchers - Wayne A Bolton presented analysis in 1958 - Published a paper on clinical applications in 1962 - Graduated from Washington University in St. Louis dental school in 1950 - Researchers involved: Charles B. Bolton, Holly Broadbent Sr., Allan G. Brodie, Charles J. Burstone, Peter Buschang, Calvin Case, Harold Chapman (Orthodontist), David Di Biase, Jean Delaire, Terry Dischinger

Analysis - Overall Analysis: - Measures sum of mesio-distal width of all 12 mandibular teeth - Compares to 12 maxillary teeth - Overall ratio known to be 91.3% - Anterior Analysis: - Measures sum of mesio-distal width of front 6 mandibular teeth - Compares to maxillary teeth - Anterior ratio known to be 77.2% - Different ratio than normal referred to as Bolton Discrepancy - Standard deviation of more than 2 yields significant discrepancy

Drawbacks - Sample measured by Bolton in 1958 consisted of only Caucasian population - Bolton ratios not representative of other races and populations - Samples with perfect malocclusion yield high discrepancy compared to Bolton ratios - Majority of populations usually not ideal compared to his ratios

Instruments - Boley gauge is the instrument of choice for measurement - Shellhart et al. showed Vernier caliper as an alternative in 1995

References - Nalacci, Ruhi (2013). Comparison of Bolton analysis and tooth size measurements obtained using conventional and three-dimensional orthodontic models. - Bolton, Wayne (1958). Disharmony In Tooth Size And Its Relation To Treatment of Malocclusion. - Shellhart, WC (1995). Reliability of the Bolton tooth‑size analysis when applied to crowded dentitions. - Champagne, M (1992). Reliability of measurements from photocopies of study models. - Ebadifar, Asghar (2013). Comparison of Boltons Ratios before and after Treatment in an Iranian Population.