The eruption tendency and changes of direction of impacted teeth following surgical exposure

Surgical exposure may be an integral part of orthodontic treatment of impacted teeth. In some cases the surgical procedure alone results in eruption and alignment of such teeth. The nature of the mechanism that starts concomitantly with the removal of covering tissues is not known. The aim of this investigation was to study factors associated with eruption as well as the eruption route of impacted and unerupted teeth following surgical exposure. The material consisted of 542 impacted teeth in 389 patients. The findings given strong support to the hypothesis that forces within surrounding tissues act upon the exposed crown in such a way as to direct it toward the area where the tissues were removed.