Brain abscess potentially secondary to odontogenic infection: case report

Odontogenic infections are rarely implicated in the causes of brain abscess formation. As such, there are very few reports of brain abscesses secondary to odontogenic infections in the literature. This is due partly to the relative rarity of brain abscesses but also to the difficulty in matching the causative organisms of a brain abscess to an odontogenic source. The authors report a case of a 50-year-old woman whose brain abscess may potentially have been secondary to an odontogenic infection. The patient's early diagnosis, supported by imaging and microbiologic assessment, along with early minicraniotomy and extraction of infected dentition followed by a course of cephalosporins and metronidazole, contributed to a successful outcome.