Archives

Background: Maxillary canine is the most frequently impacted tooth next to mandibular molar. It, thus, becomes utmost important to localize its position to carry out a proper treatment plan.
Objectives: The purpose of study was to evaluate various radiographic techniques and to develop a reliable method of determining bucco-palatal position of the impacted maxillary canine by comparing panoramic radiograph (principle of magnification), the occlusal radiograph (millimetre rule) and two intraoral periapical radiographs (parallax method).
Procedure: A total of 23 patients with 30 impacted maxillary canines diagnosed with the help of panoramic radiographs were included in this study. The bucco-palatal position of the impacted maxillary canine was determined using magnification principle, millimetre rule, parallax method and the same were confirmed by surgical exposure.
Results: Kappa statistics revealed that agreement between panoramic radiographs and surgical exposure had a kappa value of 0.88 suggestive of an excellent agreement whereas, with occlusal radiographs, kappa value was 0.70 and with two intraoral periapical radiographs it was 0.69 suggestive of intermediate to good agreement.
Conclusion: The study confirms that single panoramic radiograph may serve as a reliable indicator for determining bucco-palatal position of impacted maxillary canine provided both magnification index and the vertical restriction are used.

buccopalatal, canine, impaction, millimetre, panoramic, parallax