Distribution, prevalence and sex linkage of molar root fusion / 대한치주과학회지

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was to determine the incidence and distribution of root fusion as well as its sexlinkage in maxillary and mandibular molars. One hundred fifty patients who had eight maxillary and mandibular molars (third molars excluded) were consecutively selected for the study subjects. The subjects provided a total of 1200 molars, i.e., 600 maxillary and 600 mandibular molars. A decision about root fusion was made on the radiographic examination. If a molar had one root and/or roots fused at any part in the root surface, it was considered as having root fusion. The results showed that (1) 14.1 % of the maxillary molars and 5.8 % of the mandibular molars had a fused root, (2) the prevalence of root fusion in the male was 33 % and 56.4 % in the female, (3) 60 % in the male and 48.8 % in the female had bilaterally paired root fusion, (4) the root fusion was most frequently observed in the maxillary second molar position, but none in the mandibular first position in this study. Within limitations of this study, it can be concluded that, in management of molars with a furcation problem, treatment options such as hemisection and root amputation should be chosen after careful evaluation of root fusion. Further studies are needed to investigate a possible relationship between root fusion and periodontal disease progression.