Dear Catherine,

It has been suggested that Talons cusp has a multifactorial aetiology combining both genetics and environmental factors. Talon cusp has been reported to be an extremely rare dental anomaly and the prevalence have varied in different populations such as 1.0% in Israel, 5.2% in Malaysia, 0.9% in Japanese children, 1.5%to 2.5% in southern Chinese, only 0.06% in Mexican children and astudy in a sample of children from north India showed as high as 7.66%.

Please refer the article

• Stojanowski, Christopher M., et al. "Talon cusp from two Archaic period cemeteries in North America: implications for comparative evolutionary morphology." American journal of physical anthropology 144.3 (2011): 411-420.
• King, Nigel M, Jennie SJ, Tsai, H M. Wong. Morphological and numerical characteristics of the southern Chinese dentitions. Part I: Anomalies in the permanent dentition. Open Anthropol J (2010): 3;54-64.

Thank you for your reply. I have read these articles . Whats interesting is, i come from Malaysia and i know that Talons cusp has a prevalence of 5.2% . I am married to a german and my daughter ( 9 years old) has talons cusp on her left permanent lateral incisor. As the tooth was growing, i thought it was a supernumery and wanted to extract it till i took an x-ray. It is interesting, because she is only half Malaysian and ist is interesting for me to know the genetics behind it. Nobody else in my family have any dental abnormality. I though, had an a second 35 which appeared long after my orthodontic treatment where 4 premolars were extracted. So i have passed something on to my daughter and that is why this article on the prehistoric find in south east asia is intersting. Hope you could help me further. Thank you.  Yours, Catherine

Talon cusp, first described by Mitchell in 1892, is a debatable and an interesting developmental anomaly [1]. It is a rare dental anomaly with a well-defined morphologically altered cusp-like structure projecting from the cingulum area of the anterior teeth. This anomalous structure may also arise from cementoenamel junction (CEJ) extending towards the incisal edge of the teeth. It is composed of normal enamel and dentin, has varying extensions of pulp tissue, or maybe devoid of pulp tissue. The etiology of the talon cusp is still unknown [1].

The prevalence rate of talon cusp varies from 0.04% to 10% in the English literature [2]. The permanent dentition is affected more frequently than primary dentition and there is a slight male predilection. The talon cusp has been most frequently documented in permanent maxillary lateral incisors followed by permanent maxillary central incisors and canines. The occurrence of talon cusp on mandibular teeth has been found to be extremely rare [3].

Hattab et al. classified talon cusp into three types according to degree of the cusp formation and extension [4]. Type 1 (talon) is a morphologically well-delineated additional cusp that projects from the palatal surface to at least half the distance between CEJ and incisal edge. Type 2 (semitalon) refers to an additional cusp (≤1 mm) that may blend with the palatal surface or stand away from the rest of crown. It extends less than halfway between CEJ and incisal edge. Type 3 (trace talon) is the enlarged cingula that may have a conical, bifid, or tubercle-like appearance [1]. Though various prevalence studies on talon cusp have been documented, only one study has been conducted to evaluate the prevalence of various types of talon cusp in permanent dentition according to Hattab’s classification [5].

Journal of Oral Diseases

Volume 2014 (2014), Article ID 595189, 6 pages

http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/595189

Clinical Study

Talon Cusp: A Prevalence Study of Its Types in Permanent Dentition and Report of a Rare Case of Its Association with Fusion in Mandibular Incisor

Gaurav Sharma1 and Archna Nagpal2

Dear Ali,

Thank you very much for your Input. It is much appreciated.

With regards,

Catherine