Radiographic Study of the Prevalence of Dens Invaginatus in a Sample Set of Turkish Dental Patients

AIM: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of dens invaginatus in a sample of Turkish dental patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The sample included 6, 912 panoramic radiographs from different Turkish dental patients. The ages of the patients ranged from 18 to 50 years. A tooth was considered having dens invaginatus if an infolding of a radiopaque ribbon-like structure equal in density to enamel was seen extending from the cingulum into the root canal. Maxillary and mandibular teeth were evaluated on panoramic radiographs to determine the type of dens invaginatus using Oehlers’ classification. RESULTS: The overall incidence of patients with dens invaginatus was 0.17%. Dens invaginatus were detected in 15 teeth of a total of 192 150 teeth to give a tooth prevalence of 0.008%. Maxillary lateral incisors were most commonly affected teeth in the mouth (80% of cases), followed by maxillary canine teeth (20% of cases). The bilateral incidence of a symmetrical distribution was 25%. CONCLUSION: The occurrence of dens invaginatus among this Turkish population was rare. Attention should be paid to the presence of dens invaginatus and the treatment problems associated with it.