The Relationship between Palatal Displacement of Upper Canines and Incisors Widths in a Syrian Sample of Patients with Uncrowded Arches.

The aim of this study investigates mesiodistal crown size of the maxillary and mandibular incisors of patients with palatally impacted canines (PDC). Pretreatment dental casts of orthodontic patients with PDC of one or both maxillary canines (N: 33) were collected. This PDC sample was matched according to age and sex with pretreatment dental casts from unaffected orthodontic patients. For the PDC and matched control samples, maximum mesiodistal crown diameters were recorded for the four incisors on the right side only. The results showed that, on average, the mesiodistal crown diameters for the maxillary and mandibular incisors measured smaller in the PDC sample than in the control sample. These findings of statistically significant tooth-size reductions associated with PDC occurrence indicate a generalized pattern of reduced tooth size as a characteristic associated with the PDC anomaly. Further, the presence of generalized tooth-size reduction in cases with palatally displaced canines help explain why most orthodontic treatment plans for PDC patients are of the nonextraction type.