Prevalence of impacted canines among Sudanese university students.

Introduction: Impacted teeth, especially canines, can cause many problems during orthodontic treatment. This study was conducted in the Medical Campus, University of Khartoum, Sudan, in the period from November 2006 to April 2007. Objectives: The objectives were to determine the prevalence of impacted maxillary and mandibular canines among Sudanese students and to find out the most common position of impacted maxillary canines. Methods: A total of 2401 students were selected according to random stratified sampling technique. The selected students were screened under the natural illumination of university premises. Results:  The result showed that the age of the study group ranged from 17 to 25 years and the males to female’s ratio of all examined students was 1:2.3. Forty nine students (2%), 10 males and 39 females, out of the total sample had at least one impacted canine. The males to females ratio was approximately 1:4. Impacted canines occurred more frequently in maxilla (1.6%) than mandible (0.33%) p<0.02. The majority of students with impacted canines (73.5%) had unilateral impaction whereas 24.5 % had bilateral impactions and only 2% had three impacted canines. Impacted maxillary canines were found in three positions: palatal, buccal and in the line of arch. Palatal impactions were found to be the most common position (45%), while buccal and in the line of arch impaction were found in 20% and 35% respectively.  Retained deciduous canines were observed in the majority of the students with impacted canines (81.6%). The prevalence of impacted canines in this sample is noticeable and comparable to findings reported in other populations. Conclusion: The present study gives a clue about the magnitude of the problem, however strong conclusion can not be drown since the sample studied is not representative to the whole Sudanese community. Further study is required with a large sample collected from the different provinces of Sudan.