[Prevalence of congenitally missing teeth in Israeli recruits].

AIM: To evaluate the prevalence of congenitally missing teeth in a population of 18-year old Israeli army recruits.

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

The study population consisted of 226 out of 280 random 18-year-old Israeli army male recruits. The panoramic radiographs of those who fitted the criteria were examined by two dentists. The absence of permanent teeth in those radiographs was recorded.

RESULTS

The prevalence of tooth agenesis (including the third molars) was 43.8%. The prevalence of tooth agenesis excluding the third molars was 5.3%. There were 11 subjects (4.2%) with a missing lower 2nd pre-molar, 3 subjects (1.1%) presented congenitally missing maxillary lateral incisors. As for the third molars, 101 subjects (5.83%) presented hypodontia of at least one third molar. Hypodontia of lower third molar was more common than hypodontia of upper third (22.1% and 16.4% respectively). 20 subjects (7.6%) presented bilateral mandibular missing third molars, 13 (4.9%) presented bilateral maxillary missing third molars and nine (3.4%) presented combined bilateral maxillary and mandibular missing third molars.

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of tooth agenesis in Israeli army recruits was found within the wide range of reported similar data in the literature with some unique characteristics to this population.