Transnasal endoscopic approach to the impacted maxillary canine.

The inclusion of maxillary canines is a very common condition. The intraoral approach to the canine extraction can be buccal or palatal depending on the position of the tooth. However, in some cases, the proximity to the nasal floor or the side wall of the nose makes the transoral approach rather invasive. The aim of this article was to describe a novel transnasal endoscopically assisted approach for the extraction of high palatal/paranasal impacted canines. Thirty-seven maxillary canines have been extracted in 29 patients. The surgical approaches were buccal in 5 cases, palatal in 24 cases, and transnasal endoscopically assisted in 8 cases. Patients treated with the transnasal approach required the least amount of pain killers in the postoperative period, and the average of the operative time was shorter than that of the transoral extraction. In our opinion, the transnasal endoscopically assisted approach is a safe and effective procedure for the extraction of highly impacted maxillary canines located within 2 cm from the piriform aperture.