ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To determine the prevalence of pre-eruptive intracoronal dentine radiolucencies (PEIR) and subject factors or dental conditions associated with PEIR from orthopantograms (OPGs) in unerupted permanent teeth of children. METHODS: OPGs were evaluated for 1,571 subjects (807 males, 764 females) with mean age (8.72 ± 2.5) years. Unerupted permanent teeth prior to emergence into the oral cavity were assessed. The Chi square test was used to determine statistical differences between the group showing and the group not showing the defect with regards to sex, stage of dental development, presence of developmental anomalies, and condition of primary predecessor teeth. RESULTS: Prevalence was (8.1%) by subject and (0.62%) by teeth. All subjects showed only one affected tooth per subject with no significant gender differences. The highest prevalence was in mandibular first premolars (3.02%). Most defects were noted in the mixed dentition stage (89.06%), mainly in the mandible (79.7%) as single lesions at a mesial location intracoronally, and a size of less than one-third of dentine thickness in (50%). Among all variables examined, PEIR defects were significantly associated with mixed dentition stage (p = 0.000) and decayed/filled primary predecessor teeth (p = 0.028). CONCLUSIONS: PEIR defects occur at a significant prevalence rate in unerupted teeth. Increased awareness and careful radiographic examination of unerupted teeth may improve early detection and treatment of PEIR defects in children.
