A Study of Transmigrated Canine in an Indian Population

Aim. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of transmigrated canines in a north Indian population and association with gender, side, associated pathologies, and dental anomalies. Subjects and methods. The prospective study consisted of panoramic radiographs of 3000 patients from two dental colleges in north India. The panoramic radiographs were screened for radiographically identified position of the transmigrated tooth, retained canine, and other coexisting dental anomalies. Results. The overall prevalence of transmigrated canines (15 mandibular and 5 maxillary) was 0.66%. The prevalence of mandibular transmigrated canine was 0.5% and maxillary transmigrated canine was 0.16%. All the transmigrated canines were unilateral. The age range was 15-53 years (average age 24.1 years) and there were 12 males (60%) and 8 females (40%). Type 1 mandibular canine transmigration was the commonest type found in our study (10 cases), followed by types 2 and 4 (2 cases each) and 1 case of type 5 transmigration. Conclusion. The prevalence of transmigrated canines in the north Indian population was 0.66% and no gender predilection was evident. The transmigrated canines have a low complication rate (10.0%) and no correlation with other dental anomalies was found. Type 3 canine is the rarest form of mandibular canine transmigration.