• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.481-489
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• 2007

Maxillary canine impaction is a frequently encountered clinical problem, and it may cause the resorption of adjacent tooth or cystic change. Treatment plan for maxillary canine impaction should be decided among extraction, orthodontic traction and autotransplantation according to several factors such as direction and position of unerupted tooth, degree of developing root apex, eruption space, exsitance of supernumerary tooth, odontoma, or cyst. Autotransplantation is a valuable alternative to extraction of impacted teeth, where surgical exposure and subsequent orthodontic realignment are difficult or impossible due to unfavorable impaction position. And its prognosis is dependent on a number of factors such as preservation of periodontal ligament, degree of root development, surgical technique, patient's age, endodontic treatment, time and type of splinting and storage medium, etc. The patients in these cases visited our dental clinic in the late permanent dentition with the chief complaint of unerupted maxillary canines. And it was thought that the spontaneous eruption guidance or orthodontic traction and alignment were difficult because of its unfavorable impacted position. Therefore, autotransplantaion and endodontic treatment were done and have been checked periodically until now.