The Prevalence and Characteristics of Pre-eruptive Intracoronal Radiolucencies in Children and Adolescents

The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence and characteristics of pre-eruptive intracoronal radiolucencies (PEIR) from panoramic radiographs in Korean children and adolescents.This study examined panoramic radiographs of 3,000 patients aged between 5 and 14 years old who visited ten dental hospitals in Korea. The age and gender of the patients, the tooth type, the number of intracoronal radiolucent lesions, and the location and size of the lesions were recorded.The overall prevalence of patients with PEIR was 2.5%. The difference in the presence of PEIR between both genders was not significant. Within each tooth type, the mandibular first molar showed highest prevalence of PEIR (29.6%). The central part of the crown was the most frequently observed location of PEIR (56.8%). The size of the PEIR lesions was mostly limited to less than one-third of the thickness of coronal dentin.