Agenesis of succedaneous teeth: an expression of the homozygous state of the gene for the pegged or missing maxillary lateral incisor trait.

Agenesis of the permanent teeth that replace the primary teeth, the succedaneous teeth, was found in children from two kindreds wherein both parents had pegged maxillary lateral incisor teeth. The trait small-pegged-missing maxillary lateral incisor teeth is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner, as demonstrated in the literature and in these families. Agenesis of succedaneous teeth is most likely an autosomal recessive trait due to the homozygous state of the gene for small-pegged-missing maxillary incisor teeth.