Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the movement of mandibular first molars and second molars after enucleation.
The subjects were 20 patients (aged 8-15 years,10 males,10 females) who underwent bilateral enucleation of the mandibular third molars. None of the subjects were treated with the multibracket system after enucleation. The control group consisted of 20 patients with the third molars (aged 10-16years,4 males,16 females).
We compared angular and linear measurements on 45° oblique roentgenographic cephalograms classified into before and after enucleation with similar measurements from the control group.
The results were as follows;
1. The mean age at which the third molar germ enucleation was performed was 10 years 9 months. The most frequent age was 10 (32.5%), followed by 9 (22.5%).
2. The axial inclination of the lower first molars to the mandibular plane was increased by a mean of 2.4°, and 2.8° at the lower second molars.
3. The axial inclinations of the lower first molars and second molars to the occlusal plane both increased by a mean of O.5°.
4. In the linear measurement, the position of the lower first molars and second molars was more mesial by a mean of 2.5 mm and 2.9 mm in the control group than that of the enucleation group, respectively.
