RESORBED LATERAL INCISORS ADJACENT TO IMPACTED CANINES HAVE NORMAL CROWN SIZE

The importance of detecting maxillary canine impaction is that it may compromise dental health, particularly since a small but significant p roportion of impacted canines is associated with the resorption of the roots of neighboring teeth. It has been shown that the existence of s mall and peg-shaped lateral incisors is highly correlated with maxilla ry canine palatal impaction. To date, however, it has not been establi shed whether the root resorption that occurs has a similar correlation or a predilection for one or other types of lateral incisor crown str ucture. Accordingly, a group of patients with buccally or palatally im pacted canines, in which root resorption of the lateral incisor could be diagnosed roentgenographically, was examined and compared with a gr oup of cases with palatally impacted canines, none of which showed roo t resorption, which served as controls. The mesiodistal crown dimensio n of the lateral incisor in the experimental group was found to be nor mal in all patients except three (13%), which was significantly differ ent from the distribution of lateral incisor size in the control group (p < 0.001). In the majority of the cases, aggressive root resorption of the lateral incisor root had occurred. We would speculate that in these cases, the normal-sized and early developing lateral incisor roo t obstructs the deviated eruption path of the canine and consequently stands a considerably greater chance of being damaged by resorption.