Synonyms: Congenital teeth, Prediciduous teeth, dentition praecox, foetal teeth, natal and neonatal teeth.
Etiology
• Superficial position of the tooth germs.
• Infection
• Malnutrition
• Eruption accelerated by febrile incidents or hormonal stimulation.
• Hereditary transmission of a dominant autosomal gene.
• Osteoblastic activities inside the tooth germ area related to bone remodeling phenomena.
• HypovitaminosisAssociated with some genetic syndromes, such as
• Ellis – Van Creveld Syndrome
• Riga-Fede Disease
• Pachyonychia congenital
• Hallemann – Steriff Syndrome
• Sotos Syndrome
• Cleft palate
Incidence
► Nearly 90% of these teeth are normal primary teeth.
► In 85% : mandibular primary incisors.
► 5% are maxillary incisors and molars.
► Remaining 10% are supernumerary calcified structures
Clinical features:
► Morphologically, natal and neonatal teeth may be conical or may be normal in size and shape and opaque yellow – brownish in colour.
► These children show other associated symptoms such as dystrophic finger nails, hyperpigmentation etc.
Radiographs
• A radiograph should be made to determine the amount of Root development and the relationship of prematurely erupted teeth to its adjacent teeth.
• Most prematurely erupted teeth are hyper mobile because of the limited root development.
Histological characteristics
► Hypoplastic enamel with varying degrees of severity.
► Absence of root formation
► Ample vascularised pulp
► Irregular dentin formation
► Lack of cementum formation are characteristic features.
Harmful Effects
1. Laceration of the lingual surface of tongue.
2. difficulties for a mother who wishes to breast-feed her infant.
If the treatment option is extraction precautions to be taken are
• Avoiding extractions upt 10th day of life, need to wait for the commensal flora of the intestine to be established to produce vitamin K.
• If extractions are planned and the new born is not medicated with vitamin K immediately after birth, vitamin K supplements can be given before extractions to prevent hemorrhagic disease of the new born (hypoprothrombinemia)