IADR Abstract Archives
Permanent Tooth Agenesis in Individuals With Down Syndrome: A Meta-Analysis
Objectives: To evaluate prevalence and patterns of permanent tooth agenesis in individuals with Down syndrome, using meta-analysis methodology.
Methods: Two independent investigators carried out the screening for eligibility and data extraction for the present meta-analysis. The outcome of interest was prevalence of permanent tooth agenesis of individual teeth. The electronic databases PubMed, Web of Science, Embase and the Cochrane Library were searched with no date, language or publication status restrictions. Reference lists of retrieved articles were also hand searched to locate more potential studies. Articles were selected for inclusion based on predefined eligibility criteria. Quality assessment was carried out and included studies weighted according to the quality score.
Results: Thirteen articles were selected for inclusion. The estimated overall prevalence of permanent tooth agenesis excluding third molars was 54.6% (95%CI=44%-66%). Considerable heterogeneity was present across the studies. Among those with tooth agenesis, roughly half had three or more missing teeth. The permanent teeth with the highest prevalence of agenesis were the maxillary lateral incisor (27%), mandibular second premolar (21%), and maxillary second premolar (18%). The single most commonly absent tooth however was the mandibular left second mandibular premolar (19.9%), followed by the maxillary left lateral incisor (19.4%). Little data was available describing specific tooth agenesis patterns.
Conclusions: Individuals with Down syndrome display high prevalence rates and severity of agenesis of permanent teeth. Proper and timely diagnosis of missing permanent teeth is thus necessary allowing for a more comprehensive long-term treatment plan and a more favorable prognosis in these individuals.
Methods: Two independent investigators carried out the screening for eligibility and data extraction for the present meta-analysis. The outcome of interest was prevalence of permanent tooth agenesis of individual teeth. The electronic databases PubMed, Web of Science, Embase and the Cochrane Library were searched with no date, language or publication status restrictions. Reference lists of retrieved articles were also hand searched to locate more potential studies. Articles were selected for inclusion based on predefined eligibility criteria. Quality assessment was carried out and included studies weighted according to the quality score.
Results: Thirteen articles were selected for inclusion. The estimated overall prevalence of permanent tooth agenesis excluding third molars was 54.6% (95%CI=44%-66%). Considerable heterogeneity was present across the studies. Among those with tooth agenesis, roughly half had three or more missing teeth. The permanent teeth with the highest prevalence of agenesis were the maxillary lateral incisor (27%), mandibular second premolar (21%), and maxillary second premolar (18%). The single most commonly absent tooth however was the mandibular left second mandibular premolar (19.9%), followed by the maxillary left lateral incisor (19.4%). Little data was available describing specific tooth agenesis patterns.
Conclusions: Individuals with Down syndrome display high prevalence rates and severity of agenesis of permanent teeth. Proper and timely diagnosis of missing permanent teeth is thus necessary allowing for a more comprehensive long-term treatment plan and a more favorable prognosis in these individuals.