The role of five prognostic factors in the eruption of palatally impacted canines following diode laser disinclusion: a case series study

Background: This case series study aims to evaluate the spontaneous eruption of impacted canines following diode laser disinclusion surgery without orthodontic traction, and to analyze the correlation with five prognostic factors: age, sex of the patient, angle α, sector, and height of inclusion of the canine. Methods: The sample included 15 patients aged 13–30 years and 20 palatally impacted canines. The patients’ records were collected, and prognostic factors were assessed. All patients underwent disinclusion surgery using a diode laser (K-Laser, Eltech, Blue Derma) and post-surgery, canines were monitored with intraoral scans and photos at 1 week, 8 weeks (T1), and 16 weeks (T2). The STL files were superimposed with the open-source software MeshLab (MeshLab 2023.12, Visual Computing Lab, Pisa, Italy), and the eruption values were measured. Through multiple linear regression analysis, the relationships between the five prognostic factors and the total spontaneous eruption value were analyzed. Results: The canines treated in this study responded with an average eruption of 4.70 mm. For the prognostic factors sex (p = 0.94) and angle α (p = 0.12), no statistically significant relationship with eruption was found. The variables age (p < 0.001), sector II (p = 0.02), sector III (p = 0.03), sector IV (p = 0.06), and inclusion height (p < 0.001) had negative linear coefficients. Consequently, as the values of these three prognostic factors increased, a lower eruption of the included element measured in millimeters was obtained. Conclusions: All canines successfully erupted following the disinclusion procedure, avoiding the use of orthodontic traction. Patient sex and the α angle of impaction were not reliable predictors of eruption outcomes. In contrast, age, sector, and inclusion height measured via CBCT showed high statistical significance and could be used as prognostic factors to predict the eruptive response following disinclusion surgery.