Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Apr 9;22(1):117.
doi: 10.1186/s12903-022-02151-z.

Assessment of risk factors and molecular biomarkers in children with supernumerary teeth: a single-center study

Dalia M Talaat  1 , Ibrahim Y Hachim  2 , Marwa M Afifi  3   4 , Iman M Talaat  5 , Mona A ElKateb  6
Affiliations

Assessment of risk factors and molecular biomarkers in children with supernumerary teeth: a single-center study

Dalia M Talaat et al. BMC Oral Health. .

Abstract

Background: Supernumerary teeth are considered one of the commonly observed dental anomalies in children. Several theories have been proposed to explain the presence of supernumerary teeth, including environmental and genetic factors. This study aimed to identify the different risk factors and molecular biomarkers in patients presented with supernumerary teeth.

Methods: This case-control study included 240 children, 6 to 12-year-old. They were divided into a test group (n = 120 children presented with supernumerary teeth) and a control group (n = 120 children with no supernumerary teeth). Questionnaires were distributed to assess demographics and exposure to several environmental factors. Ten extracted supernumerary teeth from the test group were processed for histopathological analysis.

Results: Male gender, dental history of severe oral infection or medical history of chemotherapy treatment, previous history of taking medication or illness during pregnancy, family history of neoplastic disorders, use of electronic devices, and living beside agricultural fields or industrial areas were found to be statistically significant associated with the risk of supernumerary teeth development. Immunohistochemistry panel revealed that supernumerary teeth showed enhanced expression of wingless (Wnt) and sonic hedgehog (SHH) proteins as well as a reduced expression of adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) protein, denoting molecular derangement in a group of pathways classically believed to be involved in its pathogenesis.

Conclusions: Males were more frequently affected by supernumerary teeth than females. Several risk factors were notably correlated with the existence of supernumerary teeth. Additionally, molecular biomarkers assessment demonstrated a high expression level of pro-tumorigenic proteins such as Wnt and SHH in patients with supernumerary teeth.

Keywords: Environmental factors; Molecular biomarkers; Supernumerary teeth.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
STROBE diagram showing the study protocol
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Representative images of the expression levels of Wnt proteins (Wnt 4, Wnt 5 and Wnt 6), sonic hedgehog (SHH) protein, bone morphogenic protein 11 (BMP11) and adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) protein in the studied supernumerary teeth samples. Positive expression is represented as brown immunostaining
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
A bar graph showing the average staining intensities of the different proteins
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. Management of the developing dentition and occlusion in pediatric dentistry. The Reference Manual of Pediatric Dentistry. Chicago, Ill.: Pediatr Dent 2021:408–25.
    1. Karayilmaz H, Kirzioğlu Z, Saritekin A. Characteristics of nonsyndromic supernumerary teeth in children and adolescents. Turk J Med Sci. 2013;43:1013–1018.
    1. Syriac G, Joseph E, Rupesh S, Philip J, Cherian SA, Mathew J. Prevalence, characteristics, and complications of supernumerary teeth in nonsyndromic pediatric population of South India: A Clinical and Radiographic Study. J Pharm Bioallied Sci. 2017;9(Suppl 1):231–236. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Finkelstein T, Shapira Y, Pavlidi AM, Schonberger S, Blumer S, Sarne O, Shpack N. Prevalence and characteristics of supernumerary teeth in Israeli orthodontic patients. J Clin Pediatr Dent. 2019;43:244–251. - PubMed
    1. Ma X, Jiang Y, Ge H, Yao Y, Wang Y, Mei Y, Wang D. Epidemiological, clinical, radiographic characterization of non-syndromic supernumerary teeth in Chinese children and adolescents. Oral Dis. 2021;27(4):981–992. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources