Prevalence of Dental Anomalies in Maxillary Lateral Incisors: An Institutional Cross-sectional Study from Karnataka

Abstract

ntroduction: The majority of dental abnormalities are found in third molars, followed by permanent maxillary lateral incisors. The occurrence of these dental anomalies varies among different ethnic groups; hence, it is of prime importance for clinicians to know and understand the incidence of dental anomalies among the local population. Aim: To analyse the prevalence of dental anomalies in relation to permanent maxillary lateral incisors in the Karnataka region. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics of HKES’s S Nijalingappa Institute of Dental Science and Research, Kalaburgi, Karnataka, India from July 2022 to December 2022. A total of 1,116 subjects, aged between 15 and 50 years, were randomly screened. Each subject was clinically examined, and radiographs were taken for patients with dental anomalies. The five dental anomalies studied were congenitally missing permanent maxillary lateral incisors, peg laterals, dens in dente, talon’s cusp, and palato-gingival groove. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 26. Descriptive statistics were estimated in terms of frequency and percentage. Results: A total of 43 subjects were found to have anomalies associated with the maxillary lateral incisor, including pegshaped laterals (1.25%-14), dens in dente (0.81%-09), congenitally missing (0.45%-05), talon’s cusp (0.27%-03), and palato-gingival groove (1.07%-12). Conclusion: Anomalies in permanent maxillary lateral incisors were noted in 3.85% of the Karnataka population.