Purpose: To study the effect of treating the impacted upper central incisors which couldn't erupt by surgical exposure and orthodontic traction.
Methods: 28 cases with 30 impacted upper central incisors were treated with surgical exposure and orthodontic traction.
Results: In 1 case, the tooth erupted by traction. but the space was not enough, the child's parents refused extraction of the teeth, which resulted in malalignment of the maxillary incisors. In 1 case, the tooth erupted after 3 months of traction, but the patient gave up further treatment because he had no revisit time. In the remaining 26 cases all the teeth moved into correct position. The average eruption time was 4.5 month (rang: 1 to 10 months). 28 impacted teeth had vital pulp. No root absorption and conglutination were found.
Conclusions: The time of treatment, reasonable orthodontic method, less operative trauma, appropriate traction force, anchorage, control of inflammation are the keys of successful treatment.