The prevalence and expression of primary double teeth in western India

While reports on prevalence of double primary teeth are common for European and East Asian populations, the prevalence of this trait among South Asian s is unknown. The presence of double teeth was noted during an epidemiologi cal study of enamel hypoplasia in the anterior primary teeth of schoolchild ren from western India. The prevalence of primary double teeth an-Long 412, urban and rural, nursery school and first grade students was 1.5 percent. Five cases were diagnosed as fusion and one case as gemination. Findings su pport previous observations for double teeth including prevalence among too th types, sex predilection, prevalence of dental fusion vs. gemination, and tooth involvement. A global survey of the prevalence of primary double tee th reveals significantly higher frequencies in Asian and Asian-derived popu lations (up to 5.2 percent), and lower frequencies in European and European -derived populations (<1 percent). The frequency of primary double teeth in our samples from western India falls between the East Asian and European r anges. This observation fits well with recent assessments of primary dental morphology of modem and prehistoric people of western India, which suggest that their biological affinities while closer to Europeans are intermediat e between them and East Asian populations.