Ankylosis

This refers to the growing together of the tooth root with the jaw bone. If this occurs during the growth phase, it results in the affected tooth not being able to keep up with the jaw growth and then seeming to slowly disappear into the jaw itself (infra-occlusion). Sometimes, children’s milk-teeth are affected, when there’s aplasia of the correlating permanent teeth. In adults, infra-occlusion is most commonly found in the bone of retained, impacted teeth that can no longer be corrected by orthodontic treatment and also in teeth that have been damaged due to an accident. Teeth affected by ankylosis that are correctly positioned do not normally present a problem and can be safely left as they are, whereas if there is ankylosis in teeth affected by infra-occlusion,  retention and tooth impaction, then these teeth often have to be extracted.