Should a patient with a retained canine tooth undergo surgery for its removal?

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I went through your query and understood your concern. The X-ray shows two canine teeth (attachment removed to protect the patient's identity). The smaller one is the milk tooth (deciduous canine), and the one embedded in the bone is the permanent canine. This is called the over-retained deciduous and impacted canine (as per your age). The deciduous canine is supposed to fall off around 11 years of age and is replaced by a permanent one in about a 3 to 6 months gap. When the deciduous does not fall off, it is called over-retained. Every tooth has a certain time range to erupt. It is termed impacted if it does not erupt beyond the time range. In your case, the doctor has removed the deciduous canine. So, the path for permanent canine is now clear. But the eruption potential is lost (capability to erupt in the mouth by itself) as general time was around 11 to 12 years. To get the permanent canine in the mouth, you have to get it disimpacted (getting the impacted tooth out in the mouth) with the help of orthodontics. Then, a minor surgical procedure called impaction can be done. First, a small cut will be made on the gums to expose a part of the canine, and some attachments will be placed. This attachment will be connected with a wire or elastic to the archwire of the main braces, which will be present on all the other teeth. This gives a pull to the canine, and it can be brought down. Assisted eruption of canine. As the canine comes down, forces are re-activated every month till it is out in the mouth. Once sufficient canine is visible in the mouth, the attachment is replaced with the orthodontic bracket, which will be aligned with other teeth. I hope this gives you some clarity regarding the query and its solution.