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Prevalence of pre-eruptive intracoronal dentin defects from panoramic radiographs
W K Seow1, P C Lu, L H McAllan
1Pediatric Dentistry Unit, School of Dentistry, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Purpose:
This investigation stemmed from preliminary clinical observations from a school dental clinic, which suggested that a proportion of clinically undetected, radiolucent lesions on radiographs may originate as pre-eruptive intracoronal dentin defects. This study investigated the prevalence of such defects in orthopantomograms from a group of children and young adults.
Methods:
A total of 1281 orthopantomograms with 11,767 unerupted permanent teeth were examined.
Results:
The prevalence of intracoronal dentin defects was 3% by subjects, and 0.5% by teeth; the highest prevalence being noted in the maxillary and mandibular first permanent molars. Most of the lesions occurred singly, and nearly half had extended to greater than two-thirds the width of dentin thickness. Ectopic positioning was significantly associated with this lesion.
Conclusions:
Pre-eruptive intracoronal dentin defects occur at a significant prevalence rate. Increased awareness of this entity may improve diagnosis and allow early treatment.