Role of mesiodens in the etiology of midline diastema

Abstract

Midline diastema is a space between the maxillary or mandibular central incisors. It can be due to various etiology such as genetic, environmental, and so on. Mesiodens which is a supernumerary tooth located in the maxillary central incisor region, is said to be one of the causes of midline diastema.However its role in the etiology of midline diastema is not well known. The presence of diastema in the patients has esthetics and malocclusion concerns. Correct diagnosis of the etiology of diastema is essential for successful treatment.The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of mesiodens in patients with midline diastema.Digital records of 1000 orthodontic patients over a six month period were retrieved and screened for presence of midline diastema.285 patient records with midline diastema as a clinical finding were randomly selected and included in the study. Data on age, gender and presence or absence of mesiodens was methodically tabulated in Excel sheets and imported in SPSS and analyzed. Pearson's test of independence was done to check for association between the variables.From this study, it was observed that mesiodens was present only in 9% of the patients with midline diastema. Mesiodens was observed predominantly in males than in females in the age group of 10 to 18 years. In the Pearson’s Chi Square test p value was 0.00 among different age groups (P<0.05 statistically significant). Among the genders Pearson’s Chi Square test p value was 0.014(P<0.05 statistically significant). Within the limits of the study, it can be concluded that the role of mesiodens in the etiology of midline diastema was not significant. There was statistically significant association between age, gender and presence of mesiodens. Males showed more prevalence of mesiodens than females. Mesiodens was observed more commonly in the younger age group.