In dentistry, Ante's law refers to a group of proposals related to crown-to-root ratio put forth by Irwin H. Ante in a thesis paper he wrote in 1926.
Ante's law postulated that:
"the total periodontal membrane area of the abutment teeth must equal or exceed that of the teeth to be replaced."Working from this premise, later claims were made that:
"the length of the periodontal membrane attachment of the abutment tooth should be at least one half to two thirds of that of its normal root attachment".Because of these largely unsubstantiated, empirical concepts, many teeth were subsequently excluded from suitability as an abutment for fixed partial dentures and double abutments became a popular means of complying with Ante's law.
Long-term clinical trials failed to provide evidence for Ante's so called "law" and as such, it can be concluded that Ante's law with respect to teeth has been refuted.
References
Ante's law Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA