Hypodontia in an adolescent with the HbSC genotype: a case report

Orofacial manifestations of sickle cell disease: implications for dental clinicians

Sickle cell disease is a multisystem disease associated with episodes of acute illness and progressive organ damage. It is one of the most common severe monogenic disorders worldwide and is now the fastest growing genetic disorder in the UK. Dental awareness of orofacial manifestation varies geographically due to the inheritance pattern and patient population affected by the disease. This article details the epidemiology, pathophysiology and the orofacial manifestations in light of current literature.

Dental agenesis: genetic and clinical perspectives

Dental agenesis is the most common developmental anomaly in humans and is frequently associated with several other oral abnormalities. Whereas the incidence of missing teeth may vary considerably depending on dentition, gender, and demographic or geographic profiles, distinct patterns of agenesis have been detected in the permanent dentition. These frequently involve the last teeth of a class to develop (I2, P2, M3) suggesting a possible link with evolutionary trends. Hypodontia can either occur as an isolated condition (non-syndromic hypodontia) involving one (80% of cases), a few (less than 10%) or many teeth (less than 1%), or can be associated with a systemic condition or syndrome (syndromic hypodontia), essentially reflecting the genetically and phenotypically heterogeneity of the condition. Based on our present knowledge of genes and transcription factors that are involved in tooth development, it is assumed that different phenotypic forms are caused by different genes involving different interacting molecular pathways, providing an explanation not only for the wide variety in agenesis patterns but also for associations of dental agenesis with other oral anomalies. At present, the list of genes involved in human non-syndromic hypodontia includes not only those encoding a signaling molecule (TGFA) and transcription factors (MSX1 and PAX9) that play critical roles during early craniofacial development, but also genes coding for a protein involved in canonical Wnt signaling (AXIN2), and a transmembrane receptor of fibroblast growth factors (FGFR1). Our objective was to review the current literature on the molecular mechanisms that are responsible for selective dental agenesis in humans and to present a detailed overview of syndromes with hypodontia and their causative genes. These new perspectives and future challenges in the field of identification of possible candidate genes involved in dental agenesis are discussed.

Amelogenesis imperfecta, rough hypoplastic type, dental follicular hamartomas and gingival hyperplasia: report of a case from Central America and review of the literature

We report on a black male patient from Central America with amelogenesis imperfecta, rough hypoplastic type, dental follicular hamartomas, and gingival hyperplasia. Although previous reports have described this association of amelogenesis imperfecta with hyperplastic follicular hamartomas or central odontogenic fibroma-like lesions in blacks from South Africa, we have noticed non-black patients in the literature with similar findings.

Management of a patient with hypodontia, using implants and all-ceramic restorations: A clinical report

A 16-year-old woman with congenitally missing permanent mandibular second premolars and central incisors presented for treatment. The prosthodontic treatment consisted of placing 2 internal tri-lobed narrow platform implants in the mandibular second premolar spaces, along with zirconium abutments and all-ceramic crowns. A 4-unit zirconium fixed partial denture was fabricated to restore the missing mandibular central incisors.