Transmigration of cuspids: Report of three rare cases

Abstract

The pre-eruptive and intraosseous migration of teeth across the midline is called as transmigration. This rare phenomenon is common in the mandible compared to the maxilla. The occurrence of bilateral transmigration of mandibular canine is even rarer than unilateral transmigration. In these three cases, two of them were unilateral transmigration and the third was bilateral transmigration. In unilateral transmigration cases, one among them showed compound odontome-induced transmigration of canine and displaced premolar toward the third molar of the same side and another with unilateral transmigration of canine just crossing the midline. The case had bilaterally transmigrated canines. The occurrence of bilateral transmigration of the mandibular canine is very rare than the unilateral transmigration. Many factors had been suggested as causative agents for transmigration of mandibular canines, but there is no clear, established etiology for this phenomenon. Mupparapu proposed classifications for unilateral and bilateral transmigration of mandibular canines after reviewing literature.