Prevalence and morphometric evaluation of dilaceration in Indian Tamils: an analysis of 10,089 permanent teeth

The present radiographic study was conducted to assess the subject and tooth prevalence of dilaceration in a cohort of Tamil population aided by morphometric analysis.

After obtaining clearance from institutional human ethical clearance committee, 575 panoramic radiographs were retrieved. After exclusion of 233 radiographs based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of 342 panoramic radiographs were included. The angulation was estimated on Angle Meter software and categorized into three classes as mild, moderate and extreme. The data were recorded on Microsoft Excel spreadsheet 2021, and descriptively analyzed using IBM SPSS software.

Of the 342 subjects, there were 172 males and 170 females (1.012M:1F). Overall mean age was 33.75 ± 13.86 years. 100/342 subjects showed dilaceration in one or more teeth yielding a subject prevalence of 29.24%. There was no statistically significant difference in age and gender between the individuals who showed dilaceration and those without. The tooth prevalence was 1.49% (150/10089). The mandibular third molars were the most commonly affected teeth. Further, 97/150 teeth were mildly dilacerated (64.67%), 34/150 teeth showed moderate dilaceration (22.67%) and extreme dilaceration was noted in 19 teeth (12.66%).

Within the limits of the present study, we reported morphometric analysis of dilacerated teeth from South Indian population after examination of permanent 10,089 teeth from 342 panoramic radiographs. Mandibular third molars were the most commonly affected teeth, which led us to speculate that dilaceration is a true developmental anomaly, unrelated to trauma or other external stimuli.