Prevalence of nonsyndromic hypodontia in a south-east Transylvanian region.

Abstract

Introduction. Clinicians claim that the prevalence of hypodontia has skyrocketed in recent years. However, there is no clear evidence whether it is really a change in dentition in Homo Sapiens or a purely hypothetical observation, due to the advanced modern technology used in the diagnosis of dento-maxillary anomalies. The aim of this study was to establish the prevalence and distribution of nonsyndromic hypodontia in young patients from the South-East Transylvanian region of Romania. Material and methods. A number of 325 dental charts were selected. The patients who needed orthodontic treatment were treated in the Pedodontics Department and Orthodontic Department of UMFST “George Emil Palade“ Targu Mures and two private dental offices during 2017-2019. The age of the patients was between 12 and 25 at the moment when the clinical and paraclinical examination were performed. Results. From a total number of 275 cases investigated, 78 patients were diagnosed with hypodontia in permanent dentition, not taking into consideration the third molars. Hypodontia’s prevalence is 6.47% for patients which seek orthodontic treatment, without taking into consideration the third molars. This value is found in the range of 2.8%-11.3% reported in studies in the literature. The present study showed that hypodontia affects a greater proportion of females (6.83%) than males (5.74%), without statistically significant differences. Conclusions. The prevalence of non-syndromic hypodontia in permanent dentition, compared to the total number of patients who requested orthodontic treatment, is 6.47%, being higher than the data reported in the literature of our country, but falls within the range reported in the international literature in general.