The pattern of maxillary canine impaction in relation to anomalous lateral incisors.

Objective: To investigate the probability and pattern of maxillary canine impaction in relation to anomalous adjacent lateral incisors.

Methods: A total 66 patients (M=24, F=42) in the age range of 12 to 18 years who had at least one impacted maxillary canine were included for the study. The maxillary lateral incisor anomalies and nature of canine impactions were diagnosed from the radiographs and study models. Maxillary lateral incisors were classified as normal, peg shaped, impacted and congenitally missing. The maxillary canine impactions were classified as buccal and palatal impaction. Each affected maxillary side was considered separately. This resulted total 88 cases for which the probabilities of different canine positions adjacent to the different categories of lateral incisor anomalies were evaluated statistically.

Results: : The occurrence of palatal canine impaction was almost 1.6 times more than the buccal canine impaction. Total 11.76% of the bucally impacted canines and 38.89% of the palatally impacted canines were associated with anomalous lateral incisors. There was no positive association between anomalous lateral incisors and maxillary canines. In relation to anomalous lateral incisor, the probability of palatal canine impaction was more than the buccal canine impaction.

Conclusions: There was no positive association between lateral incisor anomalies and maxillary canine impaction. However, there was a high probability of palatal canine impaction when adjacent lateral incisors were anomalous.