Prevalence and Inheritance Pattern of Midline Diastema among Ijaws of Nigeria

Midline diastema is the space between the mesial surfaces of central incisors greater than 0.5mm. The prevalence of midline diastema varies greatly with age, gender and race. The present study was conducted to establish the prevalence and inheritance pattern of natural midline diastema among the Ijaw ethnic group of South-South Nigeria. The study involved 363 respondents (109 males and 254 females) with natural midline diastema. With an informed consent after clearance by graduate school ethics committee, data was obtained from the subjects both by a structured questionnaire and direct measurement of the width of midline diastema and then subjected to statistical analysis. The mean value for the width of midline diastema was 2.16±0.9lmm and l.87±0.87mm for the natural maxillary and mandibular width respectively. It was more prevalent in females and age group between 28-30years with 70% and 40.8% respectively than males with prevalent rate of 30% and older age group at p

Key Words: Midline diastema, Prevalence, Inheritance-pattern, Ijaw