Prevalence of hypodontia in permanent dentition in a sample of Sudanese university students

The congenital absence of one or more permanent teeth is a common dental anomaly. It can seriously affect a young person, both physically and emotionally, particularly when the missing tooth is located in the anterior region of the maxillary dental arch. The aim of the present descriptive cross-sectional study was to evaluate the prevalence of hypodontia of the permanent dentition and to determine the most common congenitally missing permanent teeth in a sample of 2401 Sudanese university students. A total of 100 congenitally missing teeth were observed in 64 students (7 males and 57 females); the overall prevalence of hypodontia in permanent dentition was 2.66% (2.69% in males, 2.66% in females). Hypodontia was more prevalent in the mandible (61%) than in the maxilla (39%) and in the left side of the jaws (55%) than in the right side (45%). The most common congenitally missing permanent tooth was the mandibular lateral incisor (23%), followed by the maxillary lateral incisor (19%), the mandibular 2nd premolar (18%) and the maxillary 2nd premolar (17%). The present study results give a clue of the magnitude of the problem. However, strong conclusion cannot be drawn since the sample studied is not representative to the whole Sudanese community. Further studies are required with a large sample collected from the different provinces of the Sudan. L’absence congenitale d’une ou de plusieurs dents permanentes est une anomalie dentaire commune. Elle peut gravement affecter un adolescent, a la fois esthetiquement et emotionnellement, en particulier lorsqu’il s’agit d’une dent anterieure. Le but de cette etude descriptive transversale etait d’evaluer la prevalence de l’hypodontie de la dentition permanente dans un echantillon de 2401 etudiants soudanais et de determiner les dents les plus incriminees. Un total de 100 dents congenitalement absentes a ete observe chez 64 etudiants (57 femmes et 7 hommes). La prevalence globale de l’hypodontie de la dentition permanente etait de 2,66 % (2,69% chez les hommes et 2,66% chez les femmes). L’hypodontie etait plus frequente a la mandibule (61 %) et dans la partie gauche de la mâchoire (55%). L’incisive mandibulaire laterale (23%) etait la dent la plus frequemment absente, suivie par l’incisive laterale maxillaire (19%), la 2eme premolaire inferieure (18%) et la 2eme premolaire maxillaire (17%). Les resultats de la presente etude donnent une idee de la frequence de cette anomalie. Cependant, une conclusion ne peut etre tiree puisque l’echantillon etudie n’est pas representatif de l’ensemble de la communaute soudanaise. Des etudes epidemiologiques avec des echantillons plus larges menees dans les differentes provinces du Soudan sont necessaires; elles permettront une meilleure appreciation de cette anomalie.