A buried deciduous molar. Case Report Neil T . C. Burman, BDS(Lond), LDSRCS(Eng), BA(OU), FRACDS, GradDipBusAdmin(WAIT), MDSc(WA)

Key words: Buried deciduous molar, case report, pre-operative radiographs.

(Received for publication July 1992. Accepted July 1992.)

Case report The patient, a twenty-year-old male Caucasian,

presented with a symptomless ‘broken tooth’. Examination revealed a grossly carious 16 with mesial inclination. The distal, disto-buccal and disto-palatal walls remained partially intact. Teeth 18, 17, 15 and 14 were present, the 15 having a slight distal inclination.

Treatment options were explained to the patient who elected to have the tooth extracted under local anaesthesia. A periapical radiograph of 16 revealed the crown of a deciduous molar (55) buried beneath it, complete with an occlusal amalgam restoration (Fig. 1). The patient had no previous history of extraction and could not recall any problems with his primary dentition.

A buccal flap was raised, buccal bone removed and the three roots of 16 divided and elevated. The crown of tooth 55 was positioned above the apex of the mesio-buccal root of tooth 16 and beneath the floor of the maxillary sinus. It was of bluelgrey appearance and not ankylosed to the surrounding bone. It was extracted with college tweezers.

Fig. 1. - Pre-operative radiograph showing buried deciduous molar.

The wound was closed with three silk sutures and healing was uneventful.

Conclusion The extraction of an unusually placed, buried

deciduous tooth crown has been described. The importance of having adequate pre-operative radi- ographs is emphasized in this case.

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3 Castlegate Way, Woodvale, Western Australia, 6026.

Australian Dental Journal 1993;38(2):147. 147