Taurodontism and length of teeth in patients with oligodontia

Abstract

Taurodontism and a reduced tooth length are reported to occur in patients with oligondontia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of these factors in Dutch patients with oligodontia. Panoramic radiographs of 117 patients with oligodontia and 91 controls were collected. Taurodontism of the mandibular first molars was recorded and the length of cuspids, bicuspids and first molars of the mandible were measured. In patients with oligodontia 28.9% showed taurodontism of one or two mandibular first molars. The prevalence of taurodontism in normal Dutch subjects was 9.9%. No significant differences were found between the two sexes in both groups. Neither was there a significant difference in the unilateral and bilateral occurrence of taurodontism. The present findings supported the hypothesis that taurodontism may be the result of an ectodermal defect and a manifestation of developmental instability in patients with oligodontia. The length of mandibular cuspids and first molars in females were significantly reduced. In males only the lower right first molar was significantly reduced. The reduced length of the teeth may also be the result of a defect in ectodermal cells. Both taurodontism and a reduced length are of importance considering dental therapy.

Prevalence of Taurodont and Pyramidal Molars in a German Population

“…In western European subjects, the prevalence is estimated to be about 10% (20,21). Although taurodontism does not involve molar teeth exclusively (22), it is found to be significantly more prevalent in second maxillary molars than in other teeth (23).…”

Taurodontism and Van der Woude Syndrome

“…31 The association of taurodontism with hypodontia has been shown. Seow and Lai 14 reported a taurodontism frequency of 35% in persons with hypodontia, and Schalk-van der Weide et al 15 found a frequency of 29% in those with oligodontia; however, only lower molars were assessed. Results of a study by Arte et al, 8 confirmed findings of the association of taurodontism to hypodontia in previous studies.…”

“…Taurodontism has been described together with congenitally missing teeth [13][14][15] and hypodontia in many syndromes, 16 in sex chromosome anomalies with extra X chromosomes, 17,18 and in persons with cleft lip and palate. 19 Other syndromes have also been reported to present with taurodontism: 18p11.3 deletion, 20 SmithMagenis syndrome, 21 Tricho-dento-osseous syndrome, [22][23][24][25] Klinefelter's syndrome, [26][27][28] Williams syndrome, 29 McCune-Albright syndrome, 30 Down syndrome, 31 and Ellis-van Creveld syndrome.…”

A Radiographic Study of Non-Syndromic Congenitally Missing Teeth in Permanent Dentition of Nigerian Dental Patients

“…One explanation considered was that congenitally missing teeth, except for hereditary cases, has a greater likelihood of occurrence when the dental germ is developed later than the surrounding tissues, thus reducing the space available for the tooth to develop [15]. Also, previous studies demonstrated a highly significant correlation between microdontia and advanced CMT of the permanent dentition [5,6,41]. Both of these suggestions agreed with Bolk's theory of terminal reduction [42] that reduction of the distal element of a tooth group occurs more frequently than in mesially placed teeth, due to the phylogenetic evolution of humans.…”

“…This could be in form of hypodontia (agenesis of one to six teeth), oligodontia (absence of six or more teeth, excluding the third molar) or anodontia (complete failure of one or both dentitions to develop [2][3][4][5][6]. It could be an isolated trait, or could be syndromic with an underlying recognizable clinical syndrome [7].…”