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Severe hypodontia in a set of triplets
S O Adeboye1, B O I Cole, R S Hobson
1Department of Child Dental Health, Newcastle Dental Hospital and School, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK. solape.adeboye@nuth.nhs.uk
Abstract:
Hypodontia is the developmental absence of one or more teeth from the dentition and constitutes one of the most common developmental anomalies in humans with a reported prevalence of 1.6 to 9.6% in the permanent dentition. Hypodontia may occur in association with other genetic diseases, or as an isolated familial or sporadic form. This article describes the rare phenomenon of severe hypodontia in a set of triplets. The triplets presented with congenital absence of the second molars, second premolars in all quadrants and lower central incisors. An additional five teeth (upper canines, upper lateral incisors and upper left first premolar) were missing in one of the triplets. The treatment plan and the possible genetic mode of inheritance are discussed.
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