Tooth Autotransplantation with a Figure-of-Eight Wire Technique

Abstract

Tooth autotransplantation is a procedure commonly performed in young patients to replace an edentulous site with an “autograft” (donor tooth). Long term survival rates range from 75.3% to 91%.1 The usual technique used is to secure the transplanted tooth by splinting it to the adjacent teeth with orthodontic wire attached with composite resin and stabilized by sutures (silk or polyglactin 910).2 Placement of a composite splint is time consuming, technique-sensitive, and requires a dry surgical field. Sutures often degrade or tear prematurely during normal function and mastication, prior to an adequate healing time for stabilization of the transplant. The purpose of this study is to determine the outcomes of third molar autotransplantation at the time of first molar extraction using a single figure-of-eight orthodontic ligature wire around the adjacent teeth and superior to the occlusal surface of the transplant.