Malposition of unerupted mandibular second premolar in children with palatally displaced canines

Abstract

Objective: To test the hypotheses that (1) the distal angulation of unerupted mandibular premolar (MnP2) is significantly greater in children with palatally displaced canines (PDC) than in those in a control sample; and (2) delayed tooth formation is significantly more frequent in children with both malposed MnP2 and PDC than in children with PDC only. Materials and Methods: We examined retrospectively panoramic radiographs from 43 patients with PDC who had no previous orthodontics. A control sample consisted of age-and sex-matched patients. The distal angle formed between the long axis of MnP2 and the tangent to the inferior border was measured. Dental age was evaluated using the Koch classification. Results: A significant difference was observed between the mean inclination of the right side MnP2 in the PDC group (75.4 degrees) and that of the control group (85.8 degrees). This difference was highly statistically significant (P