Prevalence of a few variant dental features in children aged 11–16 years in Davangere, a city in Karnataka

CONTEXT: Variations in morphology of shape of teeth have always been of interest to dentists from ancient times. But to our surprise, till date, no studies related to the prevalence of dental features have been conducted in any part of the world. AIMS: To evaluate the prevalence of a few variant dental features in a group of children aged from 11 to 16 years in the city of Davangere that belongs to the state of Karnataka, India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted where children aged 11–16 years were selected (both girls and boys) and type III clinical examination was done. They were checked for the following features – Carabelli's cusp, 3-cusped maxillary 2(nd) molar, 5-cusped maxillary 1(st) molar, 4-cusped mandibular 1(st) molar, 5-cusped mandibular 2(nd) molar, cusp 6 present in mandibular 1(st) molar, and 7-cusped mandibular 1(st) molar. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: The Chi-square test was used to analyze the categorical data. P value of 0.05 or less was considered for statistical significance. RESULTS: Around 99.3% of the school children examined had at least one of the dental variations that were examined in relation to the shape of teeth. CONCLUSIONS: This study definitely provides us with baseline data, but further epidemiological studies are required to determine the prevalence of the above mentioned dental anomalies.