Developmental dental anomalies and secondary pathosis • 275 



Table l. The prevalence of foramen cecum, dens invaginatus and pa!ato-gingiv~dl 

 groove in recent and palcoanthrupoiogical material 



Neolithic 



7-8th 

 centuries 



Recent 



No. individuals 36 



foramen cecum 7 



No. individuals 36 



dens invaginatus 2 



282 



92 (32.6%) 



282 



15 (5.3%) 



Tablf. 2. Simultaneous occurrence 

 of anomalies 



Lateral incisor Central 

 (% FC+PG) incisor 



No. FC 137 (13.9%) 9 



No. PG 52 (36.5%) 7 



FC + PG 19 1 



No. DI 22 



DI + PG 2 



NOTE: FC, foramen cecum; PG, 

 palato-gingival groove; DI, dens 

 invaginatus. 



NOTE; 11 = maxillary right central incisor; 21 = maxillary left central incisor; 12 

 maxillary right lateral incisor; 22 = maxillary left lateral incisor. 



reported as 0.25-5.1% by Pindborg (1970:58-59), as 3- 

 10% by Schulze (1970:108), and the foramen cecum was 

 present in 9.6% in the material of Fujiki et al. (1974:344). 



From the seventh-eighth centuries the prevalence of the 

 dilated invagination was 5.2%, that of the foramen cecum 

 was 32.5% in the upper lateral incisors. In the material of the 

 Neolithic age, 2 of the 46 teeth had invagination, and 9 teeth 

 a foramen cecum (Table 1). Brabant and Sahly (1962:304) 

 reported invagination in 4.2% from the Neolithic material, 

 and Arkovy (1904:23) found the foramen cecum in 39.3% 

 from the Avar Period. 



The incidence of the palato-gingival groove in the upper 

 lateral incisors of our recent material was 1 .5% (Table 1). It 

 was 4.4% in the material of Withers et al. (1981:42), and 

 2.9% in Everett and Kramer (1972:352). 



The palato-gingival groove was present in 12.3%' of the 

 teeth from the seventh-eighth centuries, and in 4 of the 46 



Zafireb Paleopathology Symp. I9HH 



teeth from the Neolithic age (Table 1 ). Brabant reported 6.3- 

 14.2% from the Neolithic age (1969:448), and 5.5%. from the 

 Gallo-Roman ages (1973:250). 



The simultaneous occurrence of the two developmental 

 anomalies, their symmetry-asymmetry relation, sex dimor- 

 phism and racial connection could be studied only in teeth of 

 skulls from the seventh-eighth centuries. 



SIMULTANEOUS OCCURRENCE 



Several studies have shown (Lee et al. 1968:18; Everett and 

 Kramer 1972:352; Walker and Glyn Jones 1983:33-34) that 

 the occurrence of the palato-gingival groove is associated 

 with the dens invaginatus. In Table 2 we give the number of 

 foramen cecum and invagination cases occurring together 

 with the groove, compared with the total number of malfor- 

 mations. 



