Three-rooted permanent mandibular first molars of Asian and black groups in the Middle East.

The occurrence of supplementary roots of the lower first permanent molars is 2.33% for a Saudi group of Asiatic descendants and 0.65% for an Egyptian group of African descendants. The most prominent finding demonstrated in this study is the lower percentage of occurrence of the third root among the Saudi samples compared to other Asiatic samples in other studies. Furthermore, this study confirmed the occurrence of the anomaly in our African samples, and the clinical situation illustrates the importance of early diagnosis to avoid complications for such molars by dental practitioners.