The unerupted maxillary canine--a post-surgical review.

The orthodontic records of 685 patients referred for surgical exposure of an unerupted impacted maxillary canine tooth were examined. The condition was more common among females than males, slightly less than 2:1. The impacted teeth had a palatal-labial ratio of 3:1. All of the teeth were exposed using the open surgical technique and in 98% of cases the tooth erupted and was orthodontically aligned. In 2% of cases ankylosis occurred and the teeth were subsequently extracted. The presence of peg-shaped lateral incisors associated with the impacted maxillary canine tooth was 3.4% of the total number of impacted teeth and congenital absence was found in 1.7% of impacted teeth.