A retrospective analysis of the patient journey for children with an unerupted maxillary central incisor.

BACKGROUND: Maxillary central incisors (MCI) are the third most impacted teeth. Timely multidisciplinary management is indicated as unerupted incisors can cause functional- and appearance-related distress. AIM: To assess the patient journey for children with unerupted MCI, including referral, clinical assessment, surgical management and follow-up treatment, and highlight areas for improvement, as well as identify factors impacting orthodontic treatment burden (OTB). DESIGN: A retrospective service evaluation of children aged 6-16 years who had surgical management of unerupted MCI under general anaesthetic (GA) between 2018 and 2021. RESULTS: Fifty-two children with 62 unerupted MCI were identified. Mean age at referral was 8.8 years. Most children (82.7%) had supernumerary teeth in the anterior maxilla. Mean time between listing for GA and surgery increased from 4.3 to 15.2 months following the COVID-19 lockdown. Mean age at surgery was 10.4 years. Supernumerary removal and incisor exposure and bond was the most common treatment (56.6%). Most patients required hospital orthodontic treatment post-surgery (65.4%). CONCLUSION: Most children referred were below 9 years (60.1%); these children had reduced OTB compared to those who had been referred at an older age. Stage of root development was also a significant predictor in OTB. An unexpected finding was that conical supernumeraries were found to prevent MCI eruption.

Positional factors affecting the surgical management of impacted permanent mandibular canines.

OBJECTIVE: To assess which positional factors influence the decision to surgically remove or expose an impacted mandibular canine. Clinical and radiographic assessment are important considerations when treatment planning for the management of impacted mandibular canines. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. SETTING: The Royal Surrey County Hospital, Guildford, UK. METHODS: The clinical notes and orthopantomogram radiographs were assessed for all patients aged 21 years or under who underwent surgical management of impacted mandibular canine teeth between 2017 and 2019. The following variables were recorded: angulation, horizontal position, vertical height, overlap of the adjacent tooth and bucco-lingual position of the canine. RESULTS: From the 67 patients and 77 canines included, surgical extraction was performed for 48 canines (62%) and surgical exposure was performed for 29 canines (38%). Chi-square and multivariable logistic regression revealed canine angulation to the midline, horizontal position of the canine root apex, vertical height of the canine crown and canine overlap of the adjacent tooth to be associated with the decision to remove or expose an impacted permanent mandibular canine (P < 0.001). The bucco-lingual position of the canine did not influence the decision to remove or expose an impacted permanent mandibular canine (P = 0.159). CONCLUSION: The decision to expose or remove an impacted mandibular canine is guided by its angulation, horizontal position and vertical position, and by the degree of overlap of the adjacent tooth. However, the bucco-lingual position is not related to the decision to surgically remove or expose an impacted permanent mandibular canine.

Oral Cancer: Raising Awareness of the Importance of Suspicion in Early Detection.

Oral cancer is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. In this article we present two cases of potentially innocuous looking lesions, initially thought to be traumatic in origin, but later diagnosed as cancer. The first patient presented with a persistent laceration thought to be caused by an accidental shaving injury, which was subsequently diagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma. The second patient presented with a hyperplastic mucosal lesion, suspected as forming due to denture-clasp irritation, which was subsequently diagnosed as proliferative verrucous carcinoma. The importance of early detection and palpation of suspicious lesions is emphasised in this article.