The prevalence, characteristics and complications of mesiodens in non-syndromic pediatric patients

Aim: This study aims to determine the prevalence of mesiodens in pediatric patients, and to examine the characteristics of mesiodens and the associated complications.
Material and Methods: Panoramic radiographs of patients aged between 5-14 years who presented to the Pediatric Dentistry Department between 2012-2019 were analyzed. Among 54895 patients, 319 were found to have 355 mesiodens. The morphology, location, eruption stage and the associated complications of mesiodens were analyzed. Results: The prevalence of mesiodens was found to be 0.58 %. Two hundred and twelve patients were male (66 %), 238 were in the mixed dentition stage (74.6%); 89 % of the patients (n=284) had a single mesiodens, 10.7 % had 2 and one had 3 mesiodens. Conical morphology (n=225, 63.4 %), vertical position (n=233, 65.6 %) and impaction (n=180, 50.8 %) were found to be common in mesiodens. Complications associated with mesiodens were identified as diastema (21.9 %), rotation/displacement of the adjacent tooth (14.4 %), and presence of resorption (2.6 %). 61.1 % of mesiodens were found to be asymptomatic.

Discussion: Although the prevalence value is similar to other studies in the literature review, it is closer to the studies on X children. Since the presence of diastema is the most common complication, radiographs should be carefully examined for the presence of mesiodens in a routine examination. Dentists need to be attentive in clinical examination to be able to prevent complications in the early stages.