Hypodontia and tooth formation in groups of children with cleft, siblings without cleft, and nonrelated controls.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the occurrence of hypodontia, dental age, and asymmetric dental development in children with cleft with their siblings and a nonsibling control group.


METHODS
The sample consisted of 54 children with cleft (aged 4.2 to 13.1 years), who had at least one sibling available for an orthopantomogram, 63 siblings without cleft (aged 4 to 14.9 years) and 250 controls without cleft (aged between 4 and 14.9 years).


METHODS
Hypodontia, dental age, and asymmetric dental development were assessed on panoramic radiographs of the children with cleft, the siblings without cleft, and the control children without cleft.


RESULTS
Both the cleft (p <.001) and the sibling group (p <.05) showed a significantly higher frequency of hypodontia and a significantly higher occurrence (cleft p <.01 and sibling group p <.001) of asymmetric dental development, compared with the control group. Only a small, but insignificant, delay in dental development could be found in the cleft and the sibling group. CONCLUSIONS; The cleft subjects with siblings showed a significantly higher occurrence of hypodontia and asymmetric dental development than the noncleft control group. This may suggest a genetic component for the occurrence of hypodontia and asymmetric dental development.
Eerens
K
K
Department of Orthodontics, School of Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine, Oral Pathology and Maxillofacial Surgery, Catholic University of Leuven, Kapucijnenvoer 7, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
Vlietinck
R
R
Heidbüchel
K
K
Van Olmen
A
A
Derom
C
C
Willems
G
G
Carels
C
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000848:Anodontia / Q000209:etiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002971:Cleft Lip / Q000150:complications; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009805:Odontogenesis; D035781:Siblings; D014078:Tooth Eruption