Are Hypomineralized Primary Molars and Canines Associated with Molar-Incisor Hypomineralization?

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of and relationship between hypomineralized second primary molars (HSPM) and hypomineralized primary canines (HPC) with molar-incisor hypomineralization (MIH) in 1,963 schoolchildren.

The European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry (EAPD) criterion was used for scoring HSPM/HPC and MIH. Only children with four permanent first molars and eight incisors were considered in calculating MIH prevalence (n equals 858); for HSPM/HPC prevalence, only children with four primary second molars (n equals 1,590) and four primary canines (n equals 1,442) were considered. To evaluate the relationship between MIH/HSPM, only children meeting both criteria cited were considered (n equals 534), as was true of MIH/HPC (n equals 408) and HSPM/HPC (n equals 360; chi-square test and logistic regression).

The prevalence of MIH was 14.69 percent (126 of 858 children). For HSPM and HPC, the prevalence was 6.48 percent (103 of 1,592) and 2.22 percent (32 of 1,442), respectively. A significant relationship was observed between MIH and both HSPM/HPC (P<0.001). The odds ratio for MIH based on HSPM was 6.31 (95 percent confidence interval [CI] equals 2.59 to 15.13) and for HPC was 6.02 (95 percent CI equals 1.08 to 33.05).

The results led to the conclusion that both hypomineralized second primary molars and hypomineralized primary canines are associated with molar-incisor hypomineralization, because children with HSPM/HPC are six times more likely to develop MIH.