A study of natal teeth in Hong Kong Chinese.

The purpose of this study was to review cases of natal teeth in babies born between January 1984 and December 1988 at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Hong Kong. There were 53678 births at the hospital during this period and 48 babies had natal teeth, a prevalence of 1:1118. The 48 babies had 72 natal teeth, all mandibular central incisors. The natal teeth in two babies were supernumerary teeth of a predeciduous dentition. Twenty nine natal teeth were extracted because they were hypermobile, three were extracted because they traumatized the ventral surface of the babies's tongue, and 16 were not extracted. The subjects were reviewed one day after the initial examination, and then after 1 week, 1 month and at 6-month intervals. No appreciable space loss occurred following the extractions. Root development occurred in teeth that were not extracted, but the crowns were hypoplastic in three cases.