Dental agenesis in Sardinians.

The authors report on the results of a study on the dental agenesis frequency in a sample of 420 individuals (152 males, 268 females), aged between 8 and 20 years, from Sardinia (Italy). 18.33% of the examined individuals (22 males, 55 females) show congenital absence and/or morphometric reduction of at least one tooth. The frequency of congenital absence of teeth in Sardinians lies in the middle of the range of Caucasoid populations, but the average (mean = 1.7) per individual seems to be the lowest ever reported. In some traits of agenesis Sardinians show great similarity to other isolated populations. This suggests that dental agenesis is probably affected by the same factors (e.g. isolation and inbreeding), which are responsible for the present genetic structure of the Sardinian population.