Association Between Odontoma and Impacted Teeth

Odontoma is considered to be the most common odontogenic tumor of the oral cavity. Most odontomas are asymptomatic and are discovered during routine radiographic investigations and can cause disturbances in the eruption of the teeth, most commonly delayed eruption or deflection. By a retrospective study design, demographic and clinical data regarding patients who presented odontomas from year 1995 to 2015 were obtained in order and the influence of active therapy on the dentition and on the treatment of impacted teeth was analyzed. Forty-five patients (mean age 14.2 years) with 29 complex and 16 compound odontomas were included in this retrospective study. Initial symptoms were delayed eruption of permanent teeth (n = 25), pain (n = 6), swellings (n = 4), and no symptoms (n = 10); 31 patients were discovered by incidence, all of them via panoramic radiographs. The mandible/maxilla ratio was about 2:1 (31/15). Thirty-two out of 45 odontomas were in close proximity of at least 1 tooth (n = 21 at incisive). A total of 12 teeth were extracted (complex: n = 8; compound: n = 4). Of the nonextracted teeth, 33 teeth were displaced and retained. Of those, 29 teeth were aligned through orthodontic-surgical approach and 4 teeth erupted spontaneously after surgery during the follow-up period. An early detection of odontoma is more likely an accidental radiological finding, hence the need for routine radiographic analysis should be emphasized. Early diagnosis of odontomas in primary dentition is crucial in order to prevent later complications, such as impaction or failure of eruption of teeth.