DENTAL AGENESIS IN INDIAN POPULATION: A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

*Mamit Kumar, Jyoti Memoalia, Sambhav Jain, Abhishek Kumar, Sanjay Talnia and 6Vandana Katoch

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The congenital absence of one or more teeth is a dental anomaly that frequently occurs throughout the world with a wide variability of distribution. This study was conducted to assess the current prevalence of dental agenesis in the permanent dentition (excluding third molars) using a sample of Indian population. Methods: Panoramic radiographs of 3852 Indian children between 10 and 15 years of age (1862 males and 1990 females) performed over a 3-year period (from 2015 to 2018) were carefully examined to identify congenital missing teeth. A chi-square test was used to determine the difference in the prevalence of hypodontia between genders and between arches. Results: The prevalence of dental agenesis was more in females than males. The most common congenitally missing teeth were the mandibular second premolars (20.3 and 18.1%) followed by the upper lateral incisors (17.8 and 17.7%) and the maxillary second premolars (7.4 and 6.3%). The absence of one tooth to five teeth was observed in 318 patients (8.73%), while 13 patients showed from six to nine missing teeth (0.36%). Conclusions: A detailed and careful radiographic examination was important in diagnosing one or more missing teeth. This could help plan the best possible treatments, both esthetically and functionally, for these patients.

Keywords: Prevalence, Hypodontia, Dental agenesis.