Amblyopia due a dentigerous cyst. Case report and literature review

The goal of this article is to present an infrequent clinical case and to review the available literatura, with an emphasis on ophthalmological symptoms.

We present the case of a 4-year-old girl with a large dentigerous cyst on the maxillary bone, who had long-standing unilateral epiphora associated with progressive ocular dystopia, facial asymmetry and ipsilateral amblyopia. A multidisciplinary approach was taken by the maxillofacial surgery, ophthalmology and optometry teams. This included systemic antibiotic administration, surgical cyst drainage and amblyopia treatment. The literature review was carried out in the MEDLINE database through the free electronic access to PubMed in March 2020.

At the 6-month follow-up, the patient was asymptomatic. The most common symptoms of dentigerous cysts are epiphora 36.8%, ocular dystopia 31.2%, diplopia 21.1%, proptosis, nasolacrimal duct obstruction and blurred vision at 10.5%. Amblyopia has not been reported.

Dentigerous cysts are benign odontogenic cysts, which can be found in the jaw and less frequently on the maxillary bone. They are usually asymptomatic, and the occurrence of ophthalmic complications is very infrequent. Multidisciplinary management is essential to avoiding long-term morbidity of maxillary dentigerous cysts and should include an ophthalmologist.