Orthodontic management of an impacted mandibular canine in a 14 years old Kuwaiti girl
Dental News Volume XXIII, Number I, March, 2016 By Dr. Saud A. Al-Anezi BDS (Liverpool, UK), Doctorate in Orthodontics (Bristol, UK) Introduction An impacted tooth can be defined as a tooth with a delayed in eruption time or that are not expected to erupt completely based on clinical and radiographic assessment. 1 An impacted tooth in children is a major problem with potentially damaging sequelae such as, damage to the adjacent teeth and cystic formation. The prevalence of impacted maxillary canine is reported to be 1.5% 2 , however, the prevalence of impaction of the mandibular canine is much lower. 3,4 In one particular study, the incidence of mandibular canine impaction was shown to be 1.29% in 5022 individuals of a Turkish population sample. 5 Clinicians should suspect impaction if the canine is not palpable in the buccal sulcus by the age of 10–11 years, hence a full clinical examination and radiographic assessment are essential in order to locate t...