The dental perspective on osteogenesis imperfecta in a Danish adult population

Background: To report on dental characteristics and treatment load in Danish adult patients with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI).

Methods: Oral examination of 73 patients with OI was performed and OI type I, III, and IV were represented by 75.3%, 8.2%, and 16.4%, respectively. Patients were diagnosed as having dentinogenesis imperfecta (DI) if they had clinical and radiological signs of DI. In the data analysis, mild OI (type I) was compared to moderate-severe OI (type III and IV).

Results: Discoloration of teeth was prevalent in patients with moderate-severe compared to mild OI (83.3% vs. 5.5%, p < 0.001). Cervical constriction and pulpal obliteration were frequent findings in patients with moderate-severe OI (61.1% and 88.9%, respectively), whereas pulp stones and taurodontism were diagnosed in patients with mild OI only (29.1% and 9.1%, respectively). DI was found in 24.7% of OI patients and considerably more frequent in patients with moderate-severe (94.4%) compared to mild OI (1.8%) (p < 0.001). The number of teeth with artificial crowns was significantly higher in patients with moderate-severe OI than in patients with mild OI (median 1.5, range 0-23 vs. median 0, range 0-14) (p < 0.001). The number of teeth with fillings in patients with mild OI was significantly higher than in patients with moderate-severe OI (mean 9.7, SD 5.1, median 9.0, range 1-21 vs. mean 5.0, SD 4.4, median 4.0, range 0-16) (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: One fourth of patients with OI had DI, and the vast majority of them had moderate-severe OI. Whereas discoloration of teeth, cervical constriction and pulp obliteration were frequent findings in patients with moderate-severe OI, pulp stones and taurodontism were found in patients with mild OI only. In patients with moderate-severe OI, the dental treatment load was dominated by prosthetic treatment, whereas restorative treatment with fillings was more prevalent in patients with mild OI.