Commentary: Intrabony Migration of Impacted Teeth

Abstract

Intraosseous migration of nonerupting teeth was an unknown natural phenomenon until the introduction of diagnostic roentgenography in the 1920s. Since then, clinicians have filled the literature with case reports of striking occurrences of migrating, impacted maxillary canines, mandibular canines and mandibular second premolars. Thus, today, descriptive reports of these infrequent dental anomalies are no longer so special. Instead, we are in an era that values the collection of study samples composed of many affected individuals, not just one or several. Using statistical analysis with appropriately sized samples, we can often identify trends and significant associations for rare conditions that a few case reports can seldom reveal. Recently, this research method has been employed successfully in studies of positional dental anomalies by Baccetti, Bjerklin et al, Joshi, Pirinen et al, our own group, and others, as well as by the current authors Shapira and Kuftinec. In this review article on ‘‘intrabony migration of impacted teeth,’’ Shapira and Kuftinec have compiled several cases to illustrate this anomaly among mandibular lateral incisors, canines and second premolars. By definition, ‘‘impacted’’ teeth remain unerupted because of obstruction or some other permanent mechanism. The mandibular lateral incisor may sometimes be displaced, but it always finds its way into the oral cavity, therefore, it does not belong in this ‘‘impacted’’ category, or in this article. What Shapira and Kuftinec are actually describing is ectopic eruption of the mandibular lateral incisor during the process of transposition with the adjacent canine, a dental anomaly that was