[Migration of a retained premolar into the processus muscularis of the mandible]

Migration of an impacted mandibular premolar is a rare finding, whereas dystopia of lower jaw cuspids is described much more often in the literature. We present a patient in whom radiographic studies show the migration of a mandibular premolar to the muscular process over a period of 14 years. Most of the tooth migration along the vertical portion of the mandibula into the processus muscularis took place after the root development had ended. Neither radiological nor clinical examination revealed the stimulus which changed the path and the direction of the impacted tooth.