During the development of teeth in the teens, the dental tooth germ is vulnerable to injury. In cases where there are trauma or infection around these developing teeth, ankylosis or fusion may occur. These teeth can become fused to the surrounding bone and present is teeth which to not erupted. If fusion occurs before the deciduous (baby) teeth are shed, the baby teeth will remain inside the mouth.

It is sometime difficult to diagnosed ankylosed teeth by Xray images. The diagnosis is usually based on history, together with the Xray images and also sometimes based on the inability to ‘move’ the teeth during ‘braces’ treatment.

In some cases, the tooth can be separated from the bone and moved into position with braces. In most cases, this is unsuccessful and hence the tooth will eventually have to be removed.