Infraclusion of primary molars: reports of cases.

A review of twenty-five patients (nine boys and sixteen girls with a mean age of 13.6 years) with infraclusion of primary molars is reported. There were thirty-two infracluded teeth, twenty-one (65.6 percent) maxillary primary molars and eleven (34.4 percent) mandibular primary molars. The primary first molar was found to be in infraclusion in four (12.5 percent) cases and the primary second molar in twenty-eight (87.5 percent) cases. Submergence was mild in fifteen cases, moderate in five, and severe in twelve. The permanent successor was lacking in four (12.5 percent) infracluded teeth. Aplasia of a nonsuccedaneous tooth was observed in four patients (more than one aplasia in three of them). Sixty-five percent of the teeth distal to the infracluded tooth had some degree of mesioversion, and 34.4 percent showed a distoversion of the mesial tooth. Twenty-one patients underwent orthodontic therapy because of malocclusion induced by the submerged tooth or for other reasons. A total of twenty-five (78.1 percent) teeth had to be extracted (surgical extraction in seventeen cases). An alveolotomy made to help the succedaneous tooth to erupt was necessary in ten cases.