ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to investigate the cause of eruption disturbance in the maxillary central incisor and establish the effective treatment plan by analyzing the vertical distance, angulation of long axis and root development of the tooth with eruption disturbance using the cone-beam CT.The average age of 134 patients diagnosed with unilaterally impacted maxillary central incisor was 7.9 years old and the male was 2.1 times higher than the female. The most common cause of eruption disorder was physical obstruction, especially mesiodens and odontoma. Of the teeth with unilateral eruption disorder, 78 cases erupted spontaneously and 56 cases erupted non-spontaneously after removal of physical obstruction.The possibility of spontaneous or non-spontaneous eruption in the unilaterally impacted maxillary central incisor depended on several factors, such as vertical distance, angulation of long axis and root development of unerupted tooth. The spontaneous eruption of the impacted maxillary cental incisor was most frequent at the angulation of long axis of 50 to 90 degrees, which is similar to the angulation of long axis of the normally erupted maxillary central incisor. In addition, the spontaneous eruption period of impacted maxillary central incisor was more influenced by the vertical distance than the angulation of long axis and the root development. Most of the teeth that showed non-spontaneous eruption had orthodontic traction, and these teeth were usually erupted within about 12 months. The period treated with orthodontic traction was no statistical significance with the vertical distance, the angulation of long axis, and the root development.This study will provide information on the cause of unilaterally impacted maxillary cental incisor and help to establish the future treatment plan.