Prevalence and distribution of dental anomalies in orthodontic patients

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of developmental dental anomalies in the Turkish population. Methods: The study was based on the dental casts, intraoral photographs, and panoramic radiographs of 3043 Turkish children ( 1658 girls, 1385 boys) who had orthodontic treatment at the Department of Orthodontics at the University of Ankara between 1978 and 2003. These patients were examined for 8 developmental dental anomalies: fusion, gemination, microdontia, macrodontia, oligodontia, hypodontia, hyperdontia, and amelogenesis imperfecta. The percentages of these anomalies were assessed in the whole group, and the sexes were compared. Results: It was found that 5.46% of the total group had at least 1 developmental dental anomaly. The distribution by sex was 70 boys ( 5.05%) and 96 girls ( 5.79%). Conclusions: Hypodontia is the most common developmental dental anomaly in the Turkish population, followed by microdontia.