Most people suffer from dental cavities, lost tooth, and other dental health problems. Some people suffer from cyst formation in the oral cavity. This cyst is quite common though it may not sound familiar. The danger of compromised oral health and complications arising from the cyst depend on its measured size.
What is Dentigerous Cyst
- It is basically a cyst that develops around the crown of a tooth that hasn’t erupted.
- This is second most common form of tooth-derived cyst.
- The cause for this cyst to arise is the presence of unerupted teeth.
- Other causes include primary tooth trauma and pulp necrosis.
- Unerupted teeth can include the wisdom teeth as well as the upper jaw canines but no teeth is immune to the cyst formation except deciduous or milk teeth.
- Most cysts form from unerupted wisdom teeth.
- The cyst forms because of an accumulation of fluid between the dental follicle and the unerupted tooth.
- The cyst that forms attaches to the neck of the tooth at the tooth’s cementoenamel junction.
- There is a risk of cyst formation in a late noneruption of teeth.
- When an individual undergoes radiographic imaging, the cyst can be seen as a well-defined unilocular radiolucency.
- The cyst can become infected.
- The cyst can grow undetected until it grows large.
- Discovery of the cyst is usually accidental when the individual undergoes a routine dental exam.
- The cyst may be mistaken for odontogenic keratocyst or an ameloblastoma.
- Biopsy of the cyst after treatment is necessary for accurate diagnosis.
Surgical Management and Treatment for Dentigerous Cyst
Treatment options include conservative and surgical management of the cyst.
Conservative Management:
- Edodontic treatment of primary tooth
- Marsupialization of the cyst with successful eruption of tooth in its correct placement.
Surgical Management:
- Surgical removal or enucleation of the cyst together with the associate tooth.
- The cyst is sent for histopath analysis for the possibility of the cyst to contain mural ameloblastoma.
- Prognosis after surgical management is good with no cyst recurrence.
- Prognosis is even better with early detection and early treatment.
Further treatment following surgery if needed is under the advice of the physician.
Symptoms of Dentigerous Cyst
Most cysts are asymptomatic. Signs and symptoms occur when the cyst becomes too large.
- Facial asymmetry
- Teeth that have been moved
- Permanent numbness in the oral or jaw region
- Severe pain
- Jaw fracture