Klinefelter’s syndrome and taurodontism

Abstract

Objective: Taurodontism is a dental anomaly characterized by an enlarged pulp chamber and apycal displacement of the pulpar floor. The prevalence of taurodontism in normal population is controversial. It has been reported that taurodontism is frequently observed in Klinefelter’s patients. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of taurodontism in a group of Italian Klinefelter’s patients and in a randomly selected male population of Italy and to compare the results with published data. Materials and methods: Digital panoramic radiographs of 16 Klinefelter’s patients and of 100 normal males were retrospectively studied in order to investigate the prevalence of taurodontism in these groups of patients. Results: Taurodont teeth were observed in 2 of the 16 Klinefelter’s patients (12.5%) and in 2 of 100 normal males (2.0%). Conclusions: Our results confirm the higher prevalence of taurodontism in Klinefelter’s patients compared to the normal population (12.5% vs. 2.0%). Due to the wide discrepancy of incidence of taurodontism reported in literature (0.04%-48.0% in normal population; 12.5%-88.0% in Klinefelter’s patients), we conclude that it is not possible to state which is the prevalence of taurodontism in a normal population nor among Klinefelter’s patients.