Tooth-size reduction associated with occurrence of palatal displacement of canines

This study investigates mesiodistal crown size of the maxillary and mandibular incisors of patients with palatally displaced canines (PDC). Pretreatment dental casts of orthodontic patients with PDC of 1 or both maxillary canines (N = 31; M10:F21) were collected. This PDC sample was matched according to age and sex with pretreatment dental casts from unaffected orthodontic patients. For the PDC and matched control samples, maximum mesiodistal crown diameters were recorded for the 4 incisors on the left side only. The results showed that, on average, the mesiodistal crown diameters for the maxillary and mandibular incisors measured smaller in the PDC sample than in the control sample. These findings of statistically significant tooth-size reductions associated with PDC occurrence indicate a generalized pattern of reduced tooth size as a characteristic associated with the PDC anomaly. Further, the presence of generalized tooth-size reduction in cases with palatally displaced canines helps explain why most orthodontic treatment plans for PDC patients are of the nonextraction type.