PATTERN OF PERMANENT CANINE IMPACTION AND ASSOCIATED RETAINED DECIDUOUS CANINE OF A NIGERIAN ORTHODONTIC PATIENT POPULATION

Abstract

Background: Dental impaction is a common
dental anomaly, and the canine tooth is one of
the most commonly affected. Impacted canines
result in many complications such as interfering
with orthodontic tooth movement, root
resorption of adjacent teeth, and compromise
aesthetic outcome, hence early diagnosis
using radiographs is emphasized. The aim of
the present study was to determine the
prevalence of impacted permanent canines
and associated retained deciduous canine in
adental patient population of western part of
Nigeria.
Methodology: The panoramic radiographic
records of 611 patients who presented at the
orthodontic clinic of the Lagos State University
Teaching Hospital in Lagos, Nigeria between
December 2010 and September 2014 were
examined for impaction of the permanent
canines. The age of the patients ranged from
15 to 25 years, with a mean of 18.10 years.
Results: Of the selected 460 patients that
satisfied the selection criteria, forty-five
students (9.8%), 16 (3.5%) males and 29
(6.3%) females, out of the total sample had at
least one impacted permanent canine (p >
0.05). Maxillary impacted canine prevalence
(7.4%) was significantly (p<0.05) higher than
that of the mandible (3.9%). The majority of the
patients with maxillary impacted canines
(76.5%, N = 26) had bilateral impaction,
whereas 14.7% (N = 5) had unilateral canine
impactions on the right side while8.8% (N = 3)
had unilateral canine impactions on the left
side. The majority of the patients with
mandibular impacted canines (50.0%, N = 9)
had unilateral impaction on the right side,
whereas 22.2% (N = 4) had unilateral canine
impactions on the left side and27.8% (N = 5)
had bilateralmandibular canine impaction.The
prevalence of retained deciduous canines in
this sample was 2.4% (N = 11).
Conclusions: The prevalence of impacted
permanent canines in this sample is 9.8% with
no significant gender preference. Retained
deciduous canines were observed in 24.4% of
patients with impacted permanent canines.