The prevalence of the Carabelli cusp in selected Saudi population

Abstract

The Carabelli cusp is a tubercle or cuspule, or a groove often seen on the palatal surface of the mesiopalatal cusp of maxillary permanent molars and maxillary second deciduous molars. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence, degree of expression of the Carabelli structure, and caries prevalence in the Carabelli structure in the permanent first and second maxillary molars in selected Saudi population. Two hundred and seventy six Saudi patients attending the college of dentistry clinics at King Saud University in Riyadh city were selected for examination. The patients' age ranged from 11 to 55 years old. Patients with severely carious, restored or missing upper first or second maxillary molars on any side were excluded. Both the first and the second upper molars were carefully examined for the occurrence of the Carabelli structure and the presence of caries. The prevalence of the Carabelli structure was 57.6% with a bilateralism of 91.2% in the first maxillary molars and 86.4% in the second molars. The Carabelli structure was found to be 29.7% as a groove expression, and 35.5% as a cusp expression. It was concluded that more than half of the Saudi population have a degree of expression of the Carabelli structure and the Carabelli trait is associated with increased caries incidence. Clinical relevance: Prominent pits and grooves can be foci for plaque retention and caries development, a large tubercle can pose some problems with orthodontic bands.

Evaluation of Carabelli’s trait in a group of Turkish patients

“…In the literature, CT was found most frequently in first upper molars and was usually detected bilaterally. 3,4,10,[27][28][29] A correspondence between the higher prevalence of CT on 16/26 than on 17/27 and bilateralism is prominent in the literature, and this was found also to be the case in our study.…”

The Prevalence of Fifth Cusp (Cusp of Carabelli) in the Upper Molars in Saudi Arabian School Students

“…North We st European origin Americans -83.5% (Meredith & Hixon, 1954) Saudi Arabians -57.6% (Shethri, 2011), 58.7% (Salako & Bello, 1998), 41.7% (current study)…”

“…High prevalence was recorded in North West Europe origin Americans (Meredith & Hixon, 1954) while Eastern Greenland Eskimos had no CT at all (Pederson, 1949). Russians (Carbonell, 1960), Brazilians (Ferreira et al, 2010;Sousa et al, 2000), Malaysians (Rusmah, 1992) (Shethri, 2011;Solako & Bello, 1998) and mixed Europeans (Diamond, 1952) exhibit moderate CT prevalence. Similar to previous Saudi studies (Shethri; Solako & Bello) the prevalence of CT in the current study (41.7%) lies in moderate CT prevalence group.…”

The Frequency of The Carabelli Trait in Selected Bangladeshi Population

“…6 Aboriginal Australians 80%, 7 Finish population 79% 8 , South Africans 79.2, 9 Nepalese-68.3%. 10 A moderate prevalence was seen in Saudi Arabians 58.7%, 11 and 57.6%; 5 Indians 52.7% 12 Brazilians 51.6%; 13 Malaysians 52.2, 7 Russian 50%, 14 and Mixed Europeans 50%. 7 Low prevalence was seen in Eastern Greenland Eskimos 0%, Japanese 10.7%, 7 Nigerians 17.43%, and Modern Chinese 21%.…”

“…4 The Carrabelli's tubercle can be useful in establishing phylogenic relationships between closely related population. 5 It has no established etiology, nor known function. Although it is said this clinically important, it has some importance in dental industries, forensic odontology, and anthropology.…”