Eruption of permanent teeth in West African (Gambian) children in relation to age, sex and physique.

Dental records of 635 West African (Gambian) children within the age range of 4.5-14 yr yielded 2108 examinations for boys and 1863 for girls. There was no difference between eruption ages of homologous permanent teeth on the left and the right side of the same jaw. Except for PM1 and PM2, teeth in the lower jaw erupted earlier. There was a clear sex difference in eruption age, which was earlier in females. Calendar age can be estimated from the state of permanent dentition, though the error of the estimate increases with the number of teeth, being about 0.5 years for 1 or 2 teeth and increasing to slightly over 1 year for 12 teeth or more. There was an association between the number of teeth erupted at a given age and height and weight of the children. Also children with fewer teeth at a given age contain a greater proportion of children below standard weight or height for that age. This effect disappeared when children were classified in terms of weight for height.