Timing of permanent teeth eruption in Turkish children.

OBJECTIVE

To identify the mean time of permanent teeth eruption in children aged 5-15 years in Samsun, Turkey.

STUDY

DESIGN

A total of 1,491 children aged 5-15 years (Female: 773; Male: 718) were included in this study. Teeth were recorded as either "not erupted" or "erupted," which was defined as having at least one cusp visible in the oral cavity. Differences between eruption times for males and females and for maxillary and mandibular teeth were analysed using independent t-tests.

RESULTS

Eruption tended to be earlier in females than in males, but this difference was significant only for maxillary and mandibular canines and mandibular first premolars (p < 0.05). For both females and males, the first teeth to erupt were the central incisors and first molars, and the last to erupt were the second premolars, molars and canines. Mandibular incisors and canines erupted significantly earlier than their maxillary counterparts in both females and males (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

In comparison with other studies, eruption times ofpermanent first molars, central and lateral incisors were delayed by several months, whereas eruption times of other teeth were accelerated by several months. The findings regarding eruption times should be considered when planning dental treatment.