maxillary arch dimension changes of 3-5 years old filipino children

background: the purpose of this study was to assess the dental arch dimensions in primary dentition of 3-5 years old filipino children and determining the existence of sexual dimorphism. m aterials and methods: in this descriptive study, 60 filipino preschool children aged 3-5 years old were selected from manila city. study casts were used for measurements of 3 arch dimensions: bicanine width, bimolar width, and arch length. the analyses were performed to compare values within age-groups and within gender-groups, besides reporting mean and standard deviations. the data were subjected to one-way anova and student t-test. r es ults: significant differences were observed regarding dental arch dimensions among different ages and genders (p<0.05). comparison between genders showed a statistically significant difference in bicanine width at the age of 4 (p=0.04), in bimolar width at age of 5 (p=0.006), and in arch length at age of 4 (p=0.03) and 5 (p=0.02). differences within male group for different ages showed only arch length dimension was statistically significant (p=0.021). in females, however the comparison between age-groups also revealed a statistically significant difference in bicanine (p= 0.016) and bimolar widths (p=0.027) dimensions. conclusion: the present study showed that dental arch dimensions, vary among different ages and genders of children. it also showed that a sexual dimorphism does exist between the gender groups.