Association between Anatomical Variations and maxillary canine impaction: A retrospective study in orthodontics

This study aims to evaluate whether or not there is a higher prevalence of skeletal abnormalities in subjects with maxillary canine impaction (MCI). This retrospective study was performed on 67 subjects with maxillary canine impaction (test group) and on 67 patients without dental displacement (control group). Sella turcica bridging (SB), ponticulus posticus (PP), atlas posterior arch deficiency (APAD) and the morphology of sella turcica and pterygopalatine fissure were evaluated on lateral cephalometric radiographs. Statistical analysis was performed using chi-square, Mann-Whitney test and multivariate logistic models; the level of significance was p < 0.05. Results showed that in the test and control groups 87% and 62.7% of patients had SB, respectively. PP was observed in 60% of patients in the test group and in 16.4% of patients in the control group. APAD was observed in 9% of test group and in 4.5% of the control group. Skeletal anomalies were significantly increased (p < 0.05) in subjects with MCI. A significant difference between the groups was observed in regards to the shape of the pterygopalatine fissure, found to be less wide and longer in the test group. SB, PP and APAD were higher in subjects with MCI; furthermore, an elongated pterygopalatine fissure was significantly associated with MCI.