Laser exposure and orthodontic traction of an impacted maxillary central incisor

Abstract

Unerupted maxillary central incisors significantly affect the function, esthetics, and confidence of young patients. Impacted tooth can occur because of number of reasons such as bony barrier, presence of odontoma, supernumerary tooth, retained deciduous tooth, or arch length discrepancy. During the mixed dentition stage, impacted central incisors are very common which bothers the child and the parents. Successful management of impacted central incisor can prove to be a big challenge for clinicians. Whenever there is a delay in eruption sequence, it is imperative for the dentist to find the etiology and formulate a treatment plan. Multidisciplinary management and proper planning are essential in the management of impacted central incisor. The present case report describes the management of a 9-year-old patient having impacted left permanent maxillary central incisor. The tooth structure was exposed using a diode laser was used as it was a conservative approach which provides a bloodless site for clinicians to operate and less postoperative trauma to the patients followed by orthodontic traction to align the tooth into proper position.