Expression of Carabelli trait in children from Southern India - A cross sectional study

Abstract

Background:The distribution of the Carabelli trait is highly variable in different regions and races of the world.Objective:To determine the prevalence of Carabelli trait in a group of children from Nellore.Materials and Methods:Children who attended the department between October 2011 to March 2012 were selected and examined for the expression of Carabelli trait in the maxillary primary second molar, permanent first and permanent second molars on the basis of the classification developed by Kraus and standards developed by Dahlberg.Statistical Methods:Descriptive statistics was performed and the relative frequency of expression in each category, according to Kraus's and Dahlberg's classification was calculated. Sexual dimorphism was statistically analyzed using Mann-Whitney U-test.Results:A total of 89.8% of primary second molars, 63.7% of permanent first molars, and 8% of permanent second molars showed some form of expression of Carabelli trait in the target population.Conclusion:Though there was a high frequency of intermediate expressions of this trait, occurrence of a definite cusp of Carabelli on the primary maxillary second molar and permanent maxillary first molar was relatively infrequent. A high percentage of the permanent maxillary second molars showed complete absence of Carabelli trait and there was no sexual dimorphism. Bilateralism with varying degrees of asymmetry was noted and there was tendency for concordance between the two sides but not within individual sides.

Prevalence of aberrant dental morphological details in 6-10 year old school children in an Indian population

“…This trait was also observed in the permanent second molar in a few studies[ 5 7 10 ] However, this was not feasible in the present study due to age constraints. When the degree of expression of cusp of Carabelli in permanent maxillary first molar was taken into consideration, absence of trait was seen in 60.2%, a negative expression in 32.6%, and a positive expression in 6.8%.…”

“…The next trait in the order of prevalence was the cusp of Carabelli in primary second molar (40.3%), and subsequently the cusp of Carabelli in permanent first molar (39.7%). Literature is replete with studies[ 5 6 7 8 9 ] showing the prevalence of cusp of Carabelli in permanent and primary teeth ranging from 2.1–85.7% to 67.5–89.8%, respectively. The present study showed a prevalence percent in permanent teeth that fit well within the range, but in primary teeth it was comparatively lesser.…”

“…The sample size is determined using data of the prevalence of cusp of Carabelli on permanent first molars from an Indian study. [ 5 ] Type one error was fixed at 5% and allowable error at 5% of prevalence. Prevalence of cusp of Carabelli on permanent first molars was 63.7%.…”

“…The degree and expression of cusp of Carabelli can range from small ridge, pit, furrow or as a tubercle. [ 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ]…”

Evaluation of Carabelli’s trait in a group of Turkish patients

“…In the literature, CT was found most frequently in first upper molars and was usually detected bilaterally. 3,4,10,[27][28][29] A correspondence between the higher prevalence of CT on 16/26 than on 17/27 and bilateralism is prominent in the literature, and this was found also to be the case in our study.…”