Relation of Dental Anomalies with Occlusal Alterations in the Pediatric Patients

Objective: To identify the dental anomalies that can modify the occlusal characteristics and their distribution in these occlusal alterations in the skeletal patterns of children. Material and Methods: We analyzed charts, panoramic and periapical radiographs of children aged 5 to 12 years from 2009 to 2012. The facial pattern was evaluated through subjective face analysis and cephalometric data, as well as the occlusion of patients with and without (control) dental anomalies. The relationship between the presence of dental anomalies and malocclusion was analyzed by the Chi-square test with significance level of 5%. Results: 73 children (27.8%) presented dental anomalies, being 49.3% in girls and 50.7% in boys in a total of 88 teeth involved. Anomalies observed in decreasing order were: enamel hypoplasias, eruptive ectopias, agenesis, supernumerary teeth, corono-radicular dilaceration, microdontia, transposition and imperfect amelogenesis. Of these, 22.2% presented associated dental anomalies, whose ectopic eruption with enamel hypoplasia were the most frequently encountered. When comparing the control group with children with dental abnormalities it was observed a significant relationship between the presence of dental anomalies and malocclusion (p<0.05). The most frequent alteration among patients with dental anomalies was deep overbite (24.6%), followed by crowding (23.3%), posterior crossbite (14.2%), anterior open bite (12.9%) and anterior crossbite (0.3%). Conclusion: Dental dysgenesis interferes with the development of occlusion and the resulting occlusal problems are distributed differently, taking into account the skeletal facial pattern in patients with and without dental anomalies.

Smile attractiveness of patients treated for congenitally missing maxillary lateral incisors as rated by dentists, laypersons, and the patients themselves.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: Esthetic judgments can help dental professionals better understand how attentive people are to their own smiles and those of others. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the smile attractiveness of patients treated for maxillary lateral incisor agenesis compared with that of individuals with a complete dentition. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Photographs were made of the smiles of patients with maxillary lateral incisor agenesis who were treated with space closure and teeth recontouring (n=26) or space opening and implants (n=20) and of a control group with a complete dentition (n=22). Both laypersons and dentists assessed smile attractiveness by using a visual analog scale. Patients and controls also assessed the level of satisfaction with their own smile. Assessments were performed twice, and the reliability of the method was determined with Cronbach α and intraclass correlation. Multifactorial and 1-way ANOVA were used to analyze smile attractiveness and participant satisfaction, followed by the Bonferroni post hoc test (α=.05). RESULTS: Attractiveness ratings by dentists and laypersons did not differ significantly among the study groups (P=.64). The ratings of male dentists and female laypersons differed significantly from those of other evaluators (P=.01). Patients with space closure and teeth recontouring were significantly more satisfied than controls (P=.002). No significant differences were found between the patients with implants and controls or between the patients with implants and those with space closure and teeth recontouring. CONCLUSIONS: The smiles of patients with maxillary lateral incisor agenesis were judged to be as attractive as those of the controls. Male dentists were the most critical raters, closely followed by female laypersons. All participants had high levels of satisfaction with their own smile; patients treated with space closure and teeth recontouring were the most satisfied.