Epidemiologic Study of Tooth Size Variability in Cariesfree Naval Recruits

¹ Naval Dental Research Institute, Great Lakes, Illinois 60088, USA

Mesiodistal tooth crown diameters of 387 caries-free naval recruits were systematically smaller than those of similar populations reported in the literature. Within the cariesfree group, tooth size varied with hypodontia, birth weight, and malocclusion. Geographic variation in tooth size was explained partially by lack of inter-regional homogeneity in hypodontia or low birth weight frequencies or both.