Prevalence and distribution of dental anomalies in orthodontic patients

Introduction: 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.