Abnormalities in number of teeth are occasionally noted in clinical cases. Many theories have been proposed as regards the causes of the occurrence of supernumerary teeth, including atavism theory, mechanical tooth germ separation theory, tissue induction theory, and dental laminar morphological disturbance theory. However, none of these theories alone offers a sufficient explanation for this phenomenon. The incidence of supernumerary permanent teeth is approximately 1-3%. These are the maxillary anterior teeth, the maxillary molars, and the maxillo-mandibular premolars in terms of descending order of site of occurrence. On the other hand, incidence in the mandibular anterior tooth area, of which there have been few detailed reports, is about 0.01%, a markedly low value. In this paper, we report two rare cases of supernumerary teeth in the mandibular incisor area. We discuss their etiology and orthodontic treatment, and detail a differential diagnosis between the normal and supernumerary teeth. We found that it was difficult to establish a clear etiology and differentiation between the normal and supernumerary teeth.

These results indicate that Japanese who attained the goal of '8020' have a relatively good occlusion.

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The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of dental checkups incorporating tooth-brushing instruction (TBI) with that of conventional dental checkups. A team consisting of one dentist and three dental hygienists saw an average of 60 employees per day on-site at an airline company. The patient's teeth were stained with a disclosing tablet and the results recorded on a Plaque Control Record (PCR) chart. The patient was then given TBI. After recording the relevant data, including TBI given and PCR scores, the charts were stored. Checkups were performed in a total of 3,854 patients between 2001 and 2005 and changes in annual scores investigated. In addition, annual shifts in mean score in patients receiving checkups over all five years were compared with those in patients receiving checkups for the first time in each of the five years. The mean score in patients receiving a checkup in 2001 was 35.1%, declining by 2.6 points to 32.5% in 2005. Among patients receiving checkups over all five years, the mean score in 2001 was 34.0%, declining by 11.2 points to 22.8% in 2005. Over the five-year period, the mean score in patients receiving checkups was 34.1%. In patients receiving checkups over all five years, the proportion with PCR scores Ͻ30% increased each year. This was because the number of patients with PCR scores Ն60% decreased each year. These findings suggest that TBI is effective in reducing poor plaque control. When compared with in patients who had not received TBI, five consecutive years of checkups was clearly effective. These results indicate that checkups incorporating TBI are more effective than Original Article

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