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Published on: April 8, 2020
A review of 47 cases of unerupted maxillary incisors
1Department of Dental Surgery, University of Malta Medical School. tangent@maltanet.net
Objectives:
To study the prevalence of aetiological factors associated with unerupted maxillary incisors and to follow the outcome of treatment in a study of 47 cases.
Design:
A retrospective study.
Setting:
The Dental Department, St Luke's Hospital, Malta, the School Dental Clinic of Malta and the private practices of two orthodontists in Malta.
Sample And Methods:
Forty-seven patients with a total of 53 unerupted maxillary incisors were classified according to the aetiological factors causing non-eruption. The relative prevalence of the various aetiologies were ascertained, and the outcome after treatment was recorded to assess the efficacy of the treatment methods being used.
Results:
The most common cause of lack of eruption was the presence of supernumerary teeth (47% of patients). The other 53% of cases were distributed more or less equally between the remaining aetiological factors, which were odontomes (9%), dilacerations (9%), tooth germ malposition (12%), crowding (4%), one case of a calcifying odontogenic cyst (2%) and one case of trauma to the preceding deciduous tooth (2%). The aetiology of 15% of cases could not be ascertained. Once supernumerary teeth were removed, maxillary incisors usually erupted successfully with the help of conventional treatment methods such as surgical exposure and orthodontics. A relatively large number of incisors that failed to erupt due to other aetiological factors had to be extracted.
Conclusions:
Maxillary incisors that fail to erupt due to the presence of supernumerary teeth have a better prognosis than unerupted incisors with less common aetiologies.
