Prevalence of Maxillary Labial Frenal Attachments Types and Midline Diastema in Egyptian Children with Fully Erupted Maxillary Permanent Canines: A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Aim: The study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of maxillary labial frenal attachment types and midline diastema in a group of Egyptian children with fully erupted maxillary permanent canines. Subjects and Methods: A total of 264 patients aged from 12 to 18 years were examined by the principal investigator to evaluate the type of frenal attachment using the direct visual method, the blanching test, and the pull test. Midline diastema simplified oral hygiene index, gingival index, and attachment loss were evaluated for all participants. Results: The mucosal frenal attachment type was the most prevalent frenal type (74.6%) followed by the gingival type (23.1%). Regarding the midline diastema, 15.7% of the participants presented with a midline diastema while assessment of oral hygiene and gingival condition revealed that 80.6% had satisfactory oral hygiene, 48.5% had mild gingivitis, and only 2.2% of patients had a clinical attachment loss. With a statistically significant difference, patients with mucosal and gingival frenal types showed no midline diastema in 90% and 71% of participants, consecutively. Conclusions: In terms of maxillary labial frenum attachment type, mucosal and gingival frenal types were the most predominant types among the study sample with a low incidence of midline diastema and attachment loss.