A survey on the occlusal Morphology of premolars in a sample of Egyptian Population

Abstract

Major and minor differences of dental morphology among populations have a significant impact on anthropological, forensic research and dentists as well. Hence in this study we aimed at surveying various presented external morphologies of maxillary and mandibular premolars in an Egyptian population sample, regarding the analysis of occlusal pattern and occlusal outline. Two hundred healthy premolars were collected from archived teeth, fifty of each type of premolars. Then classified according to Arizona State University-Dento-anthropological System (ASUDAS) for occlusal pattern and traced for occlusal outline. We found that few accessory cusps were observed in surveyed maxillary premolars. However, an accessory lingual cusp was detected among some of the surveyed teeth in mandibular premolars. Different occlusal outlines were recorded and tabulated. Therefore, it was concluded that Presence of mesial accessory cusp had a higher prevalence in maxillary first premolar, while two lingual cusps in mandibular second premolars were the most common. Regarding occlusal outline the hexagonal outline was dominating in upper first premolar while the oval was dominating in upper second. for lower premolars, the lower first premolars were diamond and the lower second premolars were rounded and square.