Our study of 202 patients aged from 7 to 17 years treated for idiopathic scoliosis, and with a Cobb angle from 20 degrees to 50 degrees, showed a higher frequency of hereditary orthodontic anomalies than those in the control group. There was unmistakable evidence that acquired orthodontic anomalies occurred in both groups at the same rate of frequency. Our study demonstrated unequivocally that the detection of hereditary orthodontic anomalies in young children allows the identification of a group of children who have a high risk of developing scoliosis in later years.

No abstract