Endoscopic removal of ectopic sinonasal teeth: a systematic review

Ectopic sinonasal teeth are uncommon. The classic approach to removal of such foreign bodies was the Caldwell-Luc. In recent years however, endoscopic approaches have become increasingly utilized. Despite this, there is a dearth of literature and consensus regarding the endoscopic removal of ectopic sinonasal teeth. As such, we conducted a systematic review on all cases of endoscopic removal of ectopic sinonasal teeth in the literature. With an understanding of the literature, clinical and technical decision making for patients with this pathology may be elucidated.

Systematic review of the Ovid Medline, EMBASE Classic and Pubmed databases were conducted using PRISMA guidelines.

Our search identified 100 articles. Final inclusion consisted of 23 studies with a total of 27 patient cases. The majority of the patients included were male (70.4%) with a mean age of 27.06 years. Patients presented with a multitude of symptoms, with nasal obstruction (48.14%), rhinorrhea (22.2%), facial pain (22.2%) and epistaxis (22.2%) being most common. Surgeons mostly reported using a 0° endoscope (22.2%) and performing a maxillary antrostomy/uncinectomy (37%) and simple extraction under general anesthetic (41%).

This systematic review analyzed important epidemiological, clinical and technical information regarding patients with endoscopic removal of sinonasal ectopic teeth. Further research is needed to promote implementation of such data into clinical practice.