Mesiodentes: incidence, morphology, etiology

There are many publications in the literature focusing on clinical, radiological and surgical aspects of the treatment of mesiodentes. However, the etiology of this dental anomaly remains widely unclear. The purpose of this study was to evaluate etiologic factors for mesiodentes in a collective comprising 30 patients with a total of 45 mesiodentes. Thirty-one percent of the patients showed a familial disposition, pointing to inheritance as a key factor in the development of mesiodentes. Our results further support the hypothesis of related etiologic factors for several dental and craniofacial anomalies, such as hyperdontia, hypodontia and cleft lip and palate. Finally, we report the gemination of a deciduous incisor on the same side as a mesiodens. We also found differences in the mesiodistal width of central incisors depending on unilateral or bilateral occurrence of mesiodentes. Both these findings support the dichotomy theory of the split in the tooth bud inducing the development of mesiodentes, a theory we favor over that of local hyperactivity of the dental lamina.