International Journal of Clinical & Medical Images

Failure of eruption may occur due to an impaction, primary retention, or secondary retention. Impaction is the cessation of the eruption of a tooth caused by a clinically or radiographically detectable physical barrier in the eruption path or due to an abnormal direction of the tooth. Primary retention refers to the failure of eruption before emergence, without a physical barrier in the eruption path and not due to an abnormal position while secondary retention differs in manner that it involves stoppage of eruption of a tooth after emergence. This panoramic radiograph reveals secondarily retained permanent left first maxillary molar (arrow). Failure of eruption of first and second permanent molars is rare; the prevalence in the normal population is 0.01% in the case of the first permanent molar, and 0.06% in the case of the second. The common feature of these conditions is the failure of eruption, which disturbs functional occlusion, causing alterations of adjacent and opposing teeth and eventually malocclusions. In case of severe submersion, clinical trouble may comprise incomplete alveolar process development, lack of normal mesial drift, non-response to orthodontic forces, retained primary teeth with or without a successor and impaction of the successor, depressed tooth with tipping adjacent teeth, supra-eruption of opposite teeth, lateral open bite and higher frequency of cross bites. Treatment options available to the attending clinician comprise observation, extraction of the obstacle, surgical exposure, luxation and extraction of the unerupted molar.

*Corresponding author: Jitender Batra, Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Post Graduate Institute of Dental Sciences, Pt. B.D Sharma U.H.S, Rohtak, Haryana, India, Tel: 8929956599, E-Mail: dr.batrajatin@gmail.com