Prevalence of taurodontism found in radiographic dental examination of 1,200 young adult Israeli patients.

The prevalence of taurodontism was studied radiographically in 1,200 young adult Israeli patients. In order to differentiate taurodont teeth from normal teeth, three types of taurodontism (meso-, hypo- and hypertaudodontism) were defined in biometric terms, using radiographic features of molar morphology. All three types according to Shaw's classification were seen. Taurodontism was found to occur in 5.6% of 1,200 individuals and in 1.5% of the 10,204 molar teeth examined. The mandibular second molar was found to be the most prone, being involved in two thirds of all cases found. Hypertaurodontism was found only in three cases, in the third molars. The conditions was seen to involve single and multiple teeth, both unilaterally and bilaterally, with the latter being most predominant.