Riga-Fede Disease and Natal Tooth Extraction: A Case Report

Abstract

Introduction: Occurrence of natal teeth are extremely rare and the commonly seen teeth are lower primary incisors, which generally occurs in pairs. The natal tooth seen is early eruption of deciduous incisors. The prevalence of natal and neonatal teeth reported ranges from 1:2,000 to 1:3,500. Case Report: A 32-day-old male infant was referred to the OPD of DY Patil Dental College and Hospital with a complaint of one tooth in the lower jaw at birth. Clinical evaluation showed presence of one tooth in the mandibular anterior region with Grade I mobility. Moons probe was used to relieve the gingival margin. Primary anterior mandibular forceps was used to extract the tooth. Patient was evaluated after one week, healing was uneventful. No difficulty in breast feeding was reported by the mother. No history of fever was reported by the mother one week after the day of extraction. Complete resolution of Riga-Fede on the ventral aspect of the tongue observed one week after the day of extraction. Conclusion: Follow-up is essential for treatment of natal teeth along with parent counselling to bring about awareness eliminating misconceptions surrounding natal teeth.