BackgroundThe objective of this study was to assess the incidence, severity and orthodontic treatment difficulty of impacted maxillary canines in Saudi population.Material and MethodsThis retrospective study included an investigation of panoramic radiographs for patients attended College of Dentistry, Jazan University, Saudi Arabia. The incidence of canine impaction and orthodontic treatment difficulty index of maxillary canine impaction was assessed based on; (1) patient age, (2) vertical position, (3) buccolingual position, (4) horizontal position, (5) incisors alignment, (6) canine space, (7) midline coincidence, (8) rotation of impacted tooth. Statistical analyses were calculated by independent Chi-Square test. A P value of less than 0.05 was considered significant.ResultsCanine impaction was found in (1.9%) of the population. Bilateral canine impaction was present in 22.3% of the patient with impacted canines. Ninety two percent had impacted maxillary canines only while 7.5% had impacted maxillary canines with other impacted teeth. The ratio of maxillary to mandibular impaction was about 10:1. Females (69.4%) had more impacted canines than males (30.6%) with no significant sex predilection. Orthodontic treatment difficulty index was statistically significant (P ≤0.05) in males more than females. Males revealed statistically significant (P ≤0.05) difficulty regarding canine angulation and the vertical position while females showed significant difficulty regarding dental midline and incisors irregularity or crowding of incisor segment.ConclusionsPrevalence of maxillary canine impaction in Jazan is within the range of impacted canine in other populations. Females showed more canine impactions than males while the orthodontic treatment difficulty index is more in males than females. Key words:Incidence, Jazan, impaction, maxillary canines, difficulty index.