Dental Age and Tooth Development in Orthodontic Patients with Agenesis of Permanent Teeth

Objective. To compare the development of permanent teeth in a group of children with the congenitally missing permanent teeth (CMPT) and corresponding nonaffected group. Methods. The formation stages of all developing permanent teeth were determined on 345 panoramic radiographs (OPTs) by the method of Haavikko (1970), and dental age was calculated. The paired samples t-test was used to compare the differences between dental age (DA) and chronological age (CA) in those with CMPT and those not affected. Spearman test was used to evaluate the correlation between DA-CA and the number of missing teeth. The Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to compare the development of the teeth adjacent to the place of the agenesis with matched pair in corresponding nonaffected group. Results. Dental age was significantly delayed in CMPT children compared to the nonaffected group (p < 0.001). The mean differences were -0.57 ± 1.20 years and -0.61 ± 1.23 years in males and females, without difference between sexes (p = 0.763). The number of missing teeth affected the delay only in females (p = 0.024). Only mesial teeth in females were significantly delayed in development when compared to the nonaffected group (p = 0.007). Conclusion. Our findings show that the development of the permanent teeth is delayed when compared to the nonaffected group of the same sex and age.