title: Dental development in patients with agenesis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Recent research concerning tooth development and dental agenesis suggests that specific genes are associated with agenesis, and that these genetic factors could also cause delayed dental development of the remaining teeth. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether dental development of patients with agenesis is delayed, compared to a control group.
  
  
  METHODS
  Panoramic radiographs of 1145 patients with dental agenesis were collected (452 males, 693 females) aged 6.2 to 24.8 years. The control group included 2032 panoramic radiographs (977 males, 1055 females) aged 6.0 to 24.4 years. A total of 3177 orthopantomograms were staged according to Demirjian. All left permanent teeth present in the mandible (except third molars) were considered. In order to evaluate the difference between patients with and without agenesis, a developmental score (DS) was calculated. The association between the DS and the number of agenetic teeth was evaluated with a Spearman correlation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Based on the DS, patients with agenesis have a delayed development compared to patients in the control group (p < 0.0001). Within the agenesis group, there is a weak relation between the number of agenetic teeth and the DS: the higher the number of teeth with agenesis, the lower the DS (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.06 for females and males, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The obtained results can be an important factor for treatment planning in patients with dental agenesis. Moreover, the presence of agenesis needs to be taken into account when using age estimation methods based on permanent tooth development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Health Sciences-Orthodontics, KU Leuven and Dentistry, University Hospitals Leuven, Kapucijnenvoer 7, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lebbe
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Health Sciences-Orthodontics, KU Leuven and Dentistry, University Hospitals Leuven, Kapucijnenvoer 7, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cadenas de Llano-Pérula
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Health Sciences-Forensic Dentistry, KU Leuven and Dentistry, University Hospitals Leuven, Kapucijnenvoer 7, Leuven, 3000, Belgium.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thevissen
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Health Sciences-Orthodontics, KU Leuven and Dentistry, University Hospitals Leuven, Kapucijnenvoer 7, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Verdonck
authors.affiliation: Interuniversity Institute for Biostatistics and statistical Bioinformatics, KU Leuven and University Hasselt, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fieuws
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Health Sciences-Orthodontics, KU Leuven and Dentistry, University Hospitals Leuven, Kapucijnenvoer 7, 3000, Leuven, Belgium. guy.willems@kuleuven.be.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Willems
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000848:Anodontia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D019229:Dentition, Permanent; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008297:Male; D011862:Radiography, Panoramic; D014070:Tooth / Q000254:growth & development*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Agenesis; Dental development; Forensic odontology; Orthodontics