Longitudinal study of accuracy of clinical examination for detection of permanent tooth aplasia

It was the aim of the present investigation to evaluate the accuracy of clinical examination for the detection of permanent tooth aplasia in the 3rd/4th grade and again 1 yr later and to record the number of children initiating orthodontic treatment in the interval between the two examinations. The validating criterion for tooth aplasia was a panoramic radiograph taken in a routine procedure. 628 children participated in the study. The clinical examinations were performed without knowledge of the radiographic evidence. During the examination children exhibiting symptoms of permanent tooth aplasia were selected for radiography. At both occasions clinical examination was very sensitive for the detection of children with aplasia of permanent incisors (nosological sensitivity = 1.00). It was, however, less sensitive for the detection of children with premolar aplasia (nosological sensitivity = 0.22 at both examinations). The nosological specificity for identification of children without aplasia of incisors and premolars was more than 0.90 at both examinations. Twenty-two children had started orthodontic treatment in the timespan between the two clinical examinations, but only three on the basis of observations on their radiographs alone (aplasia of permanent teeth). The present clinical method would have selected two of these children, thus in only one child postponing panorama screening might have affected treatment prognosis. Between the two examinations all permanent teeth mesial to the permanent second molars had erupted in 181 children who might therefore totally avoid screening radiography.