Endodontic therapy of a dilated dens invaginatus

Abstract

Dens invaginatus m a y involve the supernumerary , p r imary , or pe rmanent denti t ion. The incidence of this en t i ty has been repor ted to occur in the general popu la t ion from 0.25% to 5.1%. 1 Dur ing the past 100 years, there have been less than 50 cases of dens invaginatus r epor ted in the l i terature. 2 A p p r o x i m a t e l y ha l f of the cases involved the max i l l a ry la teral incisor. These cases m a y be categorized into one of five classes, which are normal crown and root (J. F. Ta in tor , DDS, unpub l i shed data , 1977), normal crown with d i la ted root, d i la ted crown wi th no rma l root, conical crown with d i l a t ed root, and d i la ted crown with d i l a ted root. This paper describes a case of dens invaginatus with a d i l a ted crown and di la ted root. The et iology of dens invagina tus is subject to controversy. 3-7 O f the repor ted cases, only seven have occurred in the m a n d i b u l a r teeth. ~12 All seven of these cases occurred in poster ior teeth (premolars and molars). O the r au thors la15 have commen ted on the ra r i ty of this defect in m a n d i b u l a r teeth. T h e occurrence of both a d i la ted root and d i la ted crown has only been repor ted in seven teeth 9'1~ wi th only one case repor ted in a m a n d i b u l a r tooth. 9 None of the five classes of dens invaginatus has b e e n repor ted or has been t reated in an te r ior m a n d i b u l a r teeth. The purpose of this p a p e r is to repor t a case of a m a n d i b u l a r la teral incisor with d i la ted crown and d i la ted root tha t requi red endodont ic therapy. Case Report