Dental development in congenital syphilis

Abstract

A critical analysis of the dental manifestations in congenital syphilis is timely in view of the recent educational, experimental and clinical efforts to reduce the incidence of this disease. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the characteristic clinical, roentgenographic and histologic dental changes and to consider their frequency, specificity and pathogenesis in congenital syphilis. A further purpose was to correlate the observations on the deciduous and on the permanent teeth. Many writers have taken exception to the opinions expressed by Hutchinson 1 since his original description of the specificity of the abnormalities in the upper permanent central incisors in congenital syphilis. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE One of the earliest references to dental alterations in syphilis was that by Sanchez 2 in 1785. Hutchinson 1 in 1858 gave the first complete report and described several disturbances in dental development which he thought were due to congenital syphilis. Subsequently, however,