title: Maxillary and mandibular first premolars showing three-cusp pattern: an unusual presentation.
abstract: Dental anatomy is the study of morphology of various teeth in human dentitions. The application of dental anatomy in clinical practice is important, and dentist should have a thorough knowledge regarding the morphology of the teeth. At times as a result of genetic variation, environmental factors, diet of an individual and race, variations in the morphology of the teeth can be observed. These variations have been extensively studied by the researcher in the field of anthropology to define a particular race. The most commonly observed changes include peg-shaped laterals, shovel-shaped incisors, and extra cusp on molar. Common variations documented with regard to maxillary and mandibular first premolars are the variation in the number of roots. But the variations with respect to crown morphology are few. We report a first documented unusual presentation of maxillary and mandibular first premolars with three-cusps pattern in a female patient.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Maratha Mandal's NGH Institute of Dental Sciences and Research Centre, Belgaum, Karnataka 590010, India.
authors.forename: Ramakant
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nayak
authors.forename: Vijayalakshmi
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kotrashetti
authors.forename: Aarati
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nayak
authors.forename: Viraj
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Patil
authors.forename: Mayuri
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kulkarni
authors.forename: Pradeep
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Somannavar
authors.forename: Jagadish
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hosmani