Dental Care for Patients with Partial Anodontia

Abstract

Nine cases diagnosed as partial anodontia because of multiple agenesis of the permanent teeth without any other remarkable systemic disorders, were subjected to survey of the location of the congenital missing teeth occuring and its frequency in these cases and to estimate the effects of multiple agenesis of permanent teeth on the growth of occlusal height by analyzing their denture pattern as well as their skeletal pattern by using radiographic cephalometrics.
Congenital missing teeth occured most frequently among the upper second premolars followed by the upper second molars and lower central incisors. In each case the agenesis of the teeth occured almost symmetrically and followed the phylogenic degeneration phenomenon.
The cephalometric analyses revealed the undergrowth of the nasomaxillary area in 8 cases. The undergrowth of the occlusal height and the decreased degree of the mandibular plane angle were also pointed out in 4 cases. The remaining 5 cases showed the normal occlusal height for their ages.
From these findings it could be said that partial anodontia apparently affects the growth of the skeletal pattern, and agenesis of the upper anterior teeth and premolars causes undergrowth of the midface and agenesis of the molars reduces their occlusal height which causes anterior upward rotation of the mandible.
In addition to these findings, a case of partial anodontia with a complaint of temporomandibular arthralgia was presented. A female patient with agenesis of 24 permanent teeth including multiple molars complained of the pain in the temporomandibular joint when she was 11 years old. Improvement of her occlusal height by newly constructed dentures solved her problems, indicating the importance of keeping adequate occlusal height during the growth process of the patient with partial anodontia.