Interceptive treatment of impacted maxillary lateral incisors-an outcome of two cases

This case report describes the successful interceptive treatment approach for two young patients with impacted permanent lateral incisors. The interceptive orthodontic treatment for impaction usually includes extraction of primary tooth, expansion and space opening with fixed appliance. If all kinds of interceptive treatments fail, the surgical intervention is an option by exposing the impacted tooth, then applying traction force to move the impacted tooth to the normal position. However, surgery is not the first option in growing patients since, there is still a chance for spontaneous eruption of the impacted tooth. In the present report, the patients presented to the orthodontic clinic with complaint of non-erupting front teeth after the loss of deciduous teeth, with the eruption of lateral incisors on the contralateral side. The treatment of both patients consisted of maxillary expansion to create space for permanent left lateral incisor. The teeth erupted spontaneously after the maxillary expansion.