Morphological and Numerical Characteristics of the Southern Chinese dentitions. Part I: Anomalies in the Permanent Dentition

Aim: To investigate the prevalence of eight morphological and numerical anomalies in the southern Chinese permanent dentition and to compare these with studies from different populations. Materials and Methods: The material used in the study consisted of study models and panoramic radiographs collected from 725 randomly selected 12-year-old children (358 males and 367 females). The anomalies were assessed using diagnostic criteria that have been most often cited in the published literature. Results: Of the eight dental anomalies studied, the prevalence of hyperdontia (2.6%) was higher than reported for Caucasians, and double tooth (0.8%) and dens evaginatus (4.7%) were the highest amongst all of the populations. Although the prevalence of hypodontia (7.3%) is comparable to that of other populations, mandibular incisors were the most frequently missing teeth in southern Chinese (5.6%) and this finding contradicted those from studies of other ethnic groups. Conclusion: Higher prevalences of double tooth, dens evaginatus and missing mandibular incisors can be considered to be characteristics of the southern Chinese permanent dentition.