Dental auto-transplantation to anterior maxillary sites.

AIM

To investigate the indications for, and the outcome of auto-transplantation of teeth to the anterior maxillary region.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

From 1978 to 1994, 41 teeth in 31 subjects were transplanted to anterior maxillary sites at the Department of Oral Surgery, Stavanger University Hospital, Norway. All transplantations were performed by one oral surgeon (B.G.). Relevant information was collected from patients' files, including radiographs of the tooth graft, the recipient site and follow-up radiographs.

RESULTS

The mean observation period was 55.1 months (range 1-158 months). The age of the patients at the time of the auto-transplantation ranged from 10 to 30 years (mean 14.8 year). The most common indications for auto-transplantation were aplasia (41.5%), sequelae of trauma (36.6%) and impacted or ectopic teeth (17.1%). Eight teeth were judged to be failures; five had been extracted because of severe root resorptions and periodontal infection and three were judged as failures owing to severe ongoing root resorption but remained in the alveolus.

CONCLUSION

Trauma is as common indication as aplasia for transplantation. From a biological point of view, dental auto-transplantation to the anterior maxillary region has a high success rate. Hence, auto-transplantation is an important treatment option for missing or lost maxillary anterior teeth where preservation of the alveolar bone is important during growth and development in adolescents. The major reason for failure was various types of root resorptions, some of which were detected late.