External root morphology of maxillary first premolars in Kenyan Africans

Abstract

Objective: To determine the external root morphology of the maxillary first premolarsin Kenyan Africans.

Design: In vitro descriptive cross-sectional study.

Setting: School of Dental Sciences, University of Nairobi.Subjects: One hundred and fifty five extracted maxillary first premolar teeth obtainedfrom patients aged between 13-30 years attending dental clinics within Nairobi.Main outcome measures: Number of roots, direction of root curvature and toothlength.

Results: A total of 155 maxillary first premolars were studied, 77 from males and 78from females. Overall, there were 83.2% two-rooted teeth (mean tooth length: buccalroot 22.3 mm; lingual root 21.2 mm), 10.3% one-rooted (mean tooth length-22.6 mm)and 6.5% three-rooted. Three roots occurred more commonly in males than femalesand this was a statistically significant gender difference (P<0.05). Males were foundto have larger mean tooth length than females in multirooted teeth. Majority of theroots were straight (57.2%). Distal and “S” curvatures were the commonest (19.1% and10.2% respectively). There were no significant gender differences in direction of rootcurvature (P>0.05).

Conclusions: Maxillary first premolars were mostly two-rooted with straight roots.Males presented with two or three roots more often than females and had significantlylarger mean tooth lengths.