The dental development in patients with Aperts syndrome.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this retrospective study was to quantify the level of dental developmental delay in a group of patients with Aperts syndrome when compared to matched controls.

METHODS

Twenty-six Dental Panoramic Tomographic (DPT) radiographs of patients with Apert syndrome attending Great Ormond Street Hospital were compared to controls (n = 29) from the Eastman Dental Hospital, UK. Dental development was assessed using the staging systems of Demirjian and Haavikko, and dental age (DA) was estimated using the weighted averages method.

RESULTS

Dental age, as estimated using the 12 stages of Haavikko and eight stages of Demirjian, suggested no statistical evidence of developmental delay between the Aperts and control group.

CONCLUSIONS

The hypothesis 'that there is no difference in the dental development of subjects with Apert syndrome, when compared to a group of matched controls', was accepted.