• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.550-556
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• 2005

Tooth impaction is defined as a cessation of the eruption of a tooth at the level of the oral mucosa or alveolar bone by any causes. Any tooth in the dental arch can be impacted, but the teeth frequently involved in a descending order are the mandibular and maxillary third molars, the maxillary canines, the mandibular and maxillary second premolars, and the maxillary central incisors. In these teeth, impaction of maxillary incisor occurs in about 0.1-0.5% and major causes are trauma, supernumerary teeth and periapical inflammation of primary maxillary incisor. Delayed eruption of a maxillary central incisor results in midline shift, the space's being occupied by an adjacent tooth and different levels of alveolar height. Treatment options are observation, surgical intervention, surgical exposure and orthodontic traction, transplantation and extraction. These cases were about the patients with delayed eruption of maxillary central incisor. We surgically exposed impacted tooth and guided it into normal position by the orthodontic traction. At the completion of traction, the maxillary central incisor was positoned fairly within the arch and complications such as root resorption were not observed.