Prevalence and characteristics of supernumerary teeth in Israeli orthodontic patients

Background: Supernumerary teeth are one of the most common anomalies in the human dentition, found most frequently in the maxillary anterior region causing impaction or displacement of the adjacent permanent teeth. Aim:The purpose of this retrospective study was to determine the prevalence and characteristics of supernumerary teeth in orthodontically treated patients. Study design: Pre-treatment facial and intraoral photographs, study models, panoramic and periapical radiographs of 3,000 consecutively treated orthodontic patients (mean age 12.2 years) from the Department of Orthodontics Tel Aviv University, were examined to detect supernumerary teeth in both arches. They were recorded according to gender, age, number, location, position and morphology. Results: Thirty-six patients, 22 (61%) males and 14 (39%) females with 50 supernumerary teeth, of which 42 (84%) were found in the maxillary anterior region, and 8 (16%) in the mandible, presenting a prevalence of 1.2%. Conclusions: A prevalence of 1.2% was found in our study. The most common supernumerary tooth is mesiodens located at the maxillary anterior region. The characteristics of supernumeraries were based on their morphology, location and position. The most frequent complications caused were rotations, displacement and arrested eruption of maxillary incisors.