Dental anomalies and clinical features in patients with maxillary canine impaction

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the prevalence, distribution, clinical features, and relationship with dental anomalies of maxillary canine impaction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The complete pretreatment records of 1674 orthodontic patients were examined. Subjects with maxillary impacted canines were divided into two study groups: a palatally displaced canine (PDC) group (114 patients) and a buccally displaced canine (BDC) group (37 patients). These were compared to a control group of 151 patients who were randomly selected from the initial sample without maxillary canine impaction. The significance of associations between canine impaction and dental and clinical features and anomalies was examined with the chi-square test. RESULTS: PDC patients presented with normal overjet and facial profile and a lower degree of dental arch crowding in comparison to the control patients. PDC patients showed a higher prevalence of impaction of other teeth, dental aplasia, transposition, and peg-shaped maxillary lateral incisors (odds ratios 3.3, 2.6, 8.3, and 5.8, respectively). CONCLUSION: PDC was frequently the only orthodontic problem of patients. BDC group patients did not present with notable differences in clinical and dental features or dental anomalies compared to control subjects.