Conservative Management of Mandibular Second Premolar Impaction

The mandibular second premolar is one of the most frequently impacted teeth. The recommended treatment is to extract the second primary molar with or without removing the bone along the eruption path, to uncover the tooth surgically and move it into the arch by orthodontic treatment. This paper reports the conservative management of an impacted left mandibular second premolar which exhibited self-correction and erupted into occlusion within 18 months. The purpose of this article is to review the principles of case management of impacted mandibular premolars and to illustrate their potential to respond well to treatment.