Incidence of impacted and supernumerary teeth-a radiographic study in a North Greek population

The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of impacted and supernumerary teeth, apart from third molars.

This was a retrospective study of 1.239 panoramic radiographs taken of patients who presented to the Department of Dentoalveolar Surgery, Implantology and Radiology at the School of Dentistry of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece between 1991 and 1999. The panoramic radiographs and dental records were reviewed in order to determine whether there were impacted or supernumerary teeth. Observations were also made on the space in dentition, corresponding to the position of each impacted tooth, the lack of space for tooth eruption, transmigration, retained primary teeth or prosthetic restoration.

A total of 170 (13.7%) patients presented with at least one impacted tooth. None of them had an impacted incisor. Impacted canines were the most prevalent dental anomaly (8.8%), followed by impacted premolars (2.2%). Supernumerary teeth (1.8%) and impacted molars (1%) were the least common anomalies. Among the 225 impacted teeth, the most frequently affected teeth were the canines (59.6%), followed by premolars (19.1%), and supernumerary teeth (15.1%), while the incidence of impacted molars was substantially lower (6.2%).

The most frequently impacted teeth were the maxillary canine, the second mandibular premolar and the second mandibular molar. The majority of the supernumerary teeth consisted of mesiodens. There was space in the dentition of each impacted tooth in 29.3% of the cases examined; there was a retained primary tooth in 25.1%, and a prosthetic restoration had been constructed in 24%. Insufficient space for the eruption of the impacted tooth and transmigration was observed in 17.3% and 4.2% of the cases, respectively.