Abstract
IT is now evident that agenesis of the third molar tooth is no isolated anomaly, but rather a polymorphism related to the incidence of other missing teeth, to the timing of tooth calcification and to the order of tooth eruption. When at least one third molar tooth is missing, the incidence of other missing teeth is raised thirteen-fold1,2. When third molar teeth are missing the developmental timing of the posterior teeth is markedly delayed3, and this delay extends even to the unaffected siblings of children lacking M3 (refs. 3 and 4).
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References
Garn, S. M., and Lewis, A. B., Angle Ortho., 32, 14 (1962).
Garn, S. M., Lewis, A. B., and Vicinus, J. H., J. Dent. Res., 41, 717 (1962).
Garn, S. M., Lewis, A. B., and Bonné, B., Nature, 192, 989 (1961).
Garn, S. M., Lewis, A. B., and Vicinus, J. H., in Genetics of Oral Structures, J. Dent. Res., Suppl. 42, No. 6, 1963 (in the press).
Van Valen, L., Evolution, 16, 125 (1962).
Gruneberg, H., J. Anat., 71, 236 (1937).
Butler, P. M., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., Ser. B., 107, 103 (1937).
Butler, P. M., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., Ser. B., 109, 1 (1939).
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GARN, S., LEWIS, A. & KEREWSKY, R. Third Molar Agenesis and Size Reduction of the Remaining Teeth. Nature 200, 488–489 (1963). https://doi.org/10.1038/200488a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/200488a0
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