Missing teeth among school going children in a Peshawar sample

ABSTRACT

Congenitally missing teeth is the most common craniofacial malformation. It is present either individually or associated with syndrome. Hypodontia occur as a result of multifactorial trait, influenced by a combination of gene function, environmental interaction, hence vary among different ethnic regions. This study aims to determine the prevalence of missing teeth among the school going children in Peshawar, its occurrence rate among male and female and distribution of missing teeth in upper and lower jaw. This was a cross sectional study conducted with 780 school going children from age ranged 13 to 15 years. The data were recorded on a structured check list, analyzed by using SPSS version 15 and Micro Soft Excel. Out of total only 30 students were diagnosed as having missing teeth and accounted for 3.8% prevalence [3.0% in female, and 1.5% in male]. Left mandibular site accounted highest frequency 10[33.3%]. Mandibular 2nd premolar was the most commonly observed missing tooth among the sampled students. Hypodontia was more prevalent in females, though not significantly differ