A panoramatomographic study of the teeth and jaws of Finnish university students

Abstract

A random sample of panoramic radiographs was taken of 1027 (386 male and 641 female) university students. All the students were born between 1965 and 1971. The following were examined: caries, apical radiolucencies, endodontically treated teeth, marginal and vertical bone loss, third molars, supernumerary, missing, and persisting teeth, bone structure, condyles, maxillary sinuses and soft tissue calcifications. In the inter- (of two examiners) and intra-examiner variation Kappa indices varied between 0.15 and 1.00, and agreement percentages from 52, to 100. Kappa index was poor (0.15) in evaluation of the bone structure. The mean DMFT index for the students was 8.4. A sound dentition was found in 6.6%, and 48.4% of the students were free of caries. The mean number of carious lesions was 1.1. There were 50 retained roots (49 from primary teeth). 76.6% of the students had one or more unerupted wisdom teeth and 22.7% had radiologic changes typical of pericoronitis in the region of the mandibular third molars. 16.2% of the students had at least one missing wisdom tooth. Bone structure was normal in 92.4% of the students, idiopathic osteosclerosis being the most common divergence (3.5%). Arthrotic changes in the condyles were found in 9% of the students. In eight cases there was erosion of the condyles, which was diagnosed as arthritis. Styloid ligament calcifications were found in 21.5% of the students. In the maxillary sinuses, male students exhibited changes 1.7 times more often than female students (26.3% in males and 15.1% in females).