Use of self-organizing maps for analyzing the behavior of canines displaced towards midline under interceptive treatment

BACKGROUND: Displaced maxillary permanent canine is one of the more frequent findings in canine eruption process and it's easy to be outlined and early diagnosed by means of x-ray images. Late diagnosis frequently needs surgery to rescue the impacted permanent canine. In many cases, interceptive treatment to redirect canine eruption is needed. However, some patients treated by interceptive means end up requiring fenestration to orthodontically guide the canine to its normal occlusal position. It would be interesting, therefore, to discover the dental characteristics of patients who will need additional surgical treatment to interceptive treatment. MATERIAL AND METHODS: To study the dental characteristics associated with canine impaction, conventional statistics have traditionally been used. This approach, although serving to illustrate many features of this problem, has not provided a satisfactory response or not provided an overall idea of the characteristics of these types of patients, each one of them with their own particular set of variables. Faced with this situation, and in order to analyze the problem of impaction despite interceptive treatment, we have used an alternative method for representing the variables that have an influence on this syndrome. This method is known as Self-Organizing Maps (SOM), a method used for analyzing problems with multiple variables. RESULTS: We analyzed 78 patients with a PMC angulation higher than 100ş. All of them were subject to interceptive treatment and in 21 cases it was necessary to undertake the above-mentioned fenestration to achieve the final eruption of the canine. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we describe the process of debugging variables and selecting the appropriate number of cells in SOM so as to adequately visualize the problem posed and the dental characteristics of patients with regard to a greater or lesser probability of the need for fenestration

Pyogenic granuloma subsequent to apical fenestration of a primary tooth.

BACKGROUND: The authors present two case reports of patients exhibiting pyogenic granulomas in the maxillary labial mucosa, which were related to an apical fenestration of a primary incisor. CASE DESCRIPTIONS: Several researchers have reported that the gingival wound and surrounding inflammatory tissue typically heal spontaneously after extraction of a fenestrated primary tooth. However, in the cases presented here, the gingival lesion did not heal after the fenestrated teeth were extracted. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: After extracting fenestrated teeth, clinicians need to examine the labial area at a follow-up appointment to ensure that the gingival hyperplasia heals properly. The authors suggest performing curettage of the surrounding abnormal tissue at the time of the tooth extraction.

Transitory pre-eruptive malposition of a maxillary canine: report of a case.

The ectopical eruption of the maxillary canine has been related to many causative factors. This paper shows a transient pre-eruptive abnormal position of a maxillary canine in a 9-year-old boy. The change from the normal position of the canine occurred coincidentally with the inflammation of the adjacent lateral incisor due to injury. The canine returned to a normal path after treatment and healing of the lateral incisor.