Injury to developing canines as a complication of intranasal antrostomy. Report of a case

A case is presented in which a 7-year-old boy had an intranasal antrostomy made, during which operation both developing permanent canines were injured. Despite complete resection of the roots, both canines erupted normally, supporting recent experimental studies of the eruption mechanism which suggested the importance of the tooth follicle instead of root growth as the essential mechanism for tooth eruption. Methods to prevent damage to permanent tooth germs during intranasal osteotomy are described.