Growth of teeth and bones in adult subjects with congenital untreated isolated growth hormone deficiency

Objective

To understand the growth of teeth and mandibular and maxillary bones in subjects with isolated growth hormone deficiency (IGHD).

Material and methods

Mesiodistal tooth width of 28 maxillary and mandibular dental models of 14 adult IGHD subjects (9 men) were digitalized and compared to 40 models of 20 normal-statured controls (11 men). The mean SDS of the maxillary and mandibular teeth were compared with height, cephalic perimeter, total anterior facial height, total maxillary and mandibular length, and maxillary and mandibular arches.

Results

All average mesiodistal dimensions in absolute values of the 14 dental pairs were reduced in the IGHD group. Eight of 28 (28.6%) mesiodistal dimensions in IGHD subjects of both sexes had an average SDS below −2, thirteen of them (46.4%) had mean SDS between −1 and − 2, and seven of them (25.0%) had SDS above −1. The highest SDS values were the upper lateral incisor (−0.32 in women), and the upper canine (−0.91 in men). The lowest SDS values were the 2nd upper molar (−3.51 in men), and the 2nd upper premolar (−2.64 in women). The ascending order of the mean SDS was height, total maxillary length, total mandibular length, total anterior height of the face, cephalic perimeter, the maxillary arches width, the mesiodistal width of the mandibular teeth, the mesiodistal width of the maxillary teeth and the mandibular arches width.

Conclusions

Reduction in mesiodistal width is present in untreated IGHD adults with magnitude of tooth size reduction being lower than height, cephalic perimeter, total anterior facial height, and most jaw measurements. IGHD abolishes the sexual dimorphism in mesiodistal dental measures.