Mottled permanent incisors in 15-year-old Lagos children

Mottled permanent incisors were studied in a stratified convenience sample of 206 Lagos schoolchildren aged 15 years. The mouth prevalence of this condition was 32%, and the right-left symmetry of the mottled incisors occurred very approximately in only a third of those persons with mottling. The distribution pattern was similar to that observed in similarly aged children in non-fluoride communities, and also that observed in optimally fluoridated Anglesey, England. The cause of this type of mottling in unknown, but its distribution suggests that endogenous (possibly genetic) factors may be involved.