A comparative analysis of patients with mesiodenses: a clinical and radiological study.
OBJECTIVE
A mesiodens appears most commonly as a supernumerary tooth impacted in the anterior maxilla. The purpose of this study is analyze mesiodens clinically.


METHODS
Gender, crown form, direction of impaction, relation to permanent incisors, and chief complaints of patients with extracted mesiodens were analyzed.


RESULTS
Patients were analyzed for motivation to visit the hospital; 85.4% of the patients were referred from other hospitals. Mesiodens was more common in males than in females (3.7:1), and 70.1% of patients had only one mesiodens, while 29.6% had two mesiodenses. Of the mesiodenses, 61.4% were of the aconical form, and the most common direction was upward (62.4%), followed by the normal position (26.0%) and the horizontal position (11.6%). The mesiodenses caused orthodontic problems with the permanent incisors in 46.3% of cases. Mesiodens associated with dentigerous cyst was rarely observed in our patient group.


CONCLUSIONS
Mesiodens is more common in males than in females and often affects the permanent incisors. Thus, careful clinical and radiological evaluations of mesiodenses are important.
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, Chosun University, Gwangju, Korea.
Sung-Suk
SS
Lee
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, Chosun University, Gwangju, Korea.
Su-Gwan
SG
Kim
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, Chosun University, Gwangju, Korea.
Ji-Su
JS
Oh
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, Chosun University, Gwangju, Korea.
Jae-Seek
JS
You
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, Chosun University, Gwangju, Korea.
Kyung-In
KI
Jeong
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Section of Dentistry, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Korea.
Young-Kyun
YK
Kim
Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Chosun University, Gwangju, Korea.
Sang-Ho
SH
Lee
Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Chosun University, Gwangju, Korea.
Nan-Young
NY
Lee
Supernumerary tooth; Tooth abnormalities