Traumatic hemisection and restoration of a maxillary first premolar: a case report

Surgical hemisection of a tooth involves the deliberate excision of one or more roots and their associated coronal structure. This procedure generally is performed as an alternative to complete extraction on molars when their prognosis can be improved by removing roots that are significantly compromised. Traumatic hemisection is nondeliberate and describes complete fracture through a furcation, resulting in severance of a fragment from the tooth. The case presented here involves traumatic hemisection and represents the first documented report to detail the restoration of a hemisectioned maxillary first premolar, the only nonmolar, multi-rooted tooth.