Taurodontism in ectodermal dysplasia

Different types of ectodermal dysplasia (ED) are characterised by clinical manifestations of severe hypodontia or anodontia, hypohidrosis, hypotrichosis and specific facial appearance. Some additional dental anomalies such as taurodontism can also be associated with ED. The aim of this study was to analyse frequency and types of taurodontism in different types of ED. A total of 85 molar teeth were studied. In the group of four patients with the hypohydrotic form of ED (Christ-Siemens-Touraine syndrome) 20 molar teeth were analyzed. The second group comprised 4 patients with euhydrotic types of ED with 65 molar teeth. The results showed that patients with CST syndrome displayed taurodontism in 40% of molar teeth, and patients with other forms of ED in 18.46% of molars (χ2 = 3.943; p<0,05). Hypertaurodontism was the most frequent type of anomaly in the group of CST patients (in 50% of studied teeth), while all types of the anomaly were equally distributed in the teeth of second group of ED patients. The significantly higher prevalence of taurodontism, and the presence of more severe form of anomaly in CST syndrome shows that this dental anomaly can be useful in the description and differential diagnosis of individual entities in the group of ED patients.