Incidence and Chronological Changes in Interdental Spaces in Deciduous Dentition

Abstract

Increasing attention has been paid in recent years to odontoparallaxis in deciduous teeth. The primate spaces, developmental spaces, and interdental spaces between the maxillary deciduous canine and first deciduous molar were examined three consecutive times annually in 520 kindergarten pupils.
We found that :
1. The incidence of spacing in the arch decreased with age.
2. The incidence of primate spaces was higher in the maxilla than in the mandible, and decreased with age.
3. The incidence of interdental spaces between the maxillary deciduous canine and first deciduous molar tended to increase in both boys and girls from age four to five and then to decreased from five to six.
4. The incidence of developmental spaces was higher in children with primate spaces than in those without.
5. In terms of chronological changes in spaces, of the three types, dentition that did not change was the most common.
These results provide a clear understandings of the interdental spacings in deciduous teeth, which is considered necessary for normal composition of the permanent dentition. Furthermore, it is evident that the incidence of interdental spacing as well as the distances of the interdental spaces decrease with age. For these reasons, treatment of the deciduous dentition should be carried out as early as possible.