Management of an impacted maxillary central incisor with dilacerated root

Abstract

Dilaceration is a comparatively uncommon dental deformity generally characterized by an angulation between crown and root, and consequently causing non-eruption of the tooth. Dilaceration generally occurs following trauma to the apices of deciduous dentition, which lies close to the permanent tooth buds. As a result, surgical extraction used to be the first choice when making the treatment plan for a case with severely dilacerated teeth. This case report presents the orthodontic alignment of a permanent maxillary right central incisor in an 8-year-old boy who had an impacted inverted maxillary central incisor, with distoangular root dilaceration through the crown. Following surgical exposure with the closed-eruption technique and appropriate orthodontic traction, the tooth was successfully aligned into the dental arch and the root was radiologically shown to be straightened and relatively well developed. The impacted dilacerated incisor diagnosed in the early mixed dentition should be treated with the aid of orthodontic traction.