Incidence of and chronological changes in interdental spaces in deciduous dentition

Abstract

In recent years there has been increased interest in odontoparallaxis in deciduous teeth. We examined the primate spaces, developmental spaces, and interdental spaces between the maxillary deciduous canine and first deciduous molar three consecutive times annually in 520 kindergarten pupils. We found that the incidence of spacing in the arch decreased with age. The incidence of primate spaces was greater in the maxilla than in the mandible, and decreased with age. Also, the incidence of interdental spaces between the maxillary deciduous canine and first deciduous molar tended to increase in both sexes between four and five years of age, and decreased between five and six. The incidence of developmental spaces was greater in children with primate spaces than in those without. In terms of chronological changes in spaces, of the three types, dentition that did not change was most common.