A controlled study of the association of various dental anomalies with hypodontia of permanent teeth.

Although hypodontia, or oligodontia, is one of the most common human dental anomalies observed, there have been few studies on the association of other anomalies occurring with it. The present investigation of 1032 patient records found that 65.7% of patients with hypodontia showed ankylosis of primary molars compared to only 1.5% of control children (P less than 0.001). In addition, taurodontism of the mandibular first permanent molar was observed in 34.3% of hypodontia cases compared to 7.1% in the controls (P less than 0.001). Other dental anomalies significantly associated with hypodontia include enamel hypoplasia (11.9%, P less than 0.01) and conical incisors (8.9%, P less than 0.01). In contrast, there were significantly more impacted teeth in control children compared to the hypodontia group. The results indicate that for patients with missing permanent teeth, clinicians should be alert to the possibility of these associated anomalies and their accompanying clinical implications.