The Prevalence of the Carabelli’s Tubercle in a Contemporary Libyan Population Seen in Tripoli City

Abstract

The Carabelli cusp is a tubercle or the fifth cusp often seen on the palatal surface of the mesiopalatal cusp of maxillary
permanent molars and maxillary second deciduous molars. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and
degree of expression of the Carabelli structure in the permanent first and second maxillary molars in a selected Libyan
population.
Libyan patients (232) attending to the different public dental clinics in Tripoli city were randomly selected for examination.
Their age ranged from 20 to 50 years old. Patients with other complaint, restored or missing upper first or second
maxillary molars on any side were excluded. Both the first and the second upper molars were carefully examined for the
occurrence of the Carabelli structure. The prevalence and degree of expression of a Carabelli cusp was investigated for the
upper first and second permanent molars according to a seven-grade classification system. The prevalence of the Carabelli
structure was 44.8% at first molar and only 13.8% at second molar, while the absence of the Carabelli structure was found
to be 60% at first molar and only 8.6% at second molar, and as groove expression about 31%. It was concluded that less
than half of the studied group have a degree of expression of the Carabelli trait is associated with never seen ectopic
localisation of Carabelli tubercle in all the cases. Bilateral occurrence with a tendency toward concordance of expression
between sides was also observed.