A longitudinal study of tooth formation and root resorption from birth to preadolescence

Abstract

The findings of the present study provide information of considerable clinical value to the orthodontist and pedodontist. They also contain basic data for those interested in child growth and they contribute to the normative data reported so far on tooth formation and root resorption. Dental age is a convenient method of determining the physiologic status, but in formation such as provided in this study is required before its value as a maturity indicator can be fully assessed. Subsequently, additional and more comprehensive studies may reveal the interrelations in development of the various tissue systems. The effect of environmental insult, especially the extraction of deciduous teeth, upon the formation and eruption of the permanent teeth, as obtained from serial radiographs of the same individual, can also be applied by the clinician who frequently has to decide the optimum time for the removal of teeth. Although the present study is limited in scope because of the small number of serial data available, it has made possible the compilation of basic facts on dental development that can be obtained only from longitudinal material.[…] [Extract from Epilogue