Periodontal status of orthodontically treated impacted maxillary canines

Thirty-four unilateral palatal impacted maxillary canines were brought down by orthodontic means after a radical surgical exposure. The contralateral canines which had erupted unaided served as controls during the study. Measurements of the gingival pocket depths showed that the distal pocket on the treated teeth was significantly deeper than on the control teeth. The treated canines displayed significantly more loss of periodontal support on the buccal and palatal surfaces than did the untreated teeth. Radiographically, there was more alveolar bone loss on the mesial surfaces of the corrected than on the uncorrected canines, the mean distance being 2.06 and 1.51 millimeters, respectively. The age of the patients at the start of treatment did not seem to have any profound influence on the loss of attachment, but the individual variation was considerably greater in adults.