Alternate management of an anterior maxillary dentigerous cyst in a paediatric patient

The purpose of this article is to show alternate management of an anterior maxillary dentigerous cyst in a paediatric patient. An 8-year-old male child reported to the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial surgery with the chief complaint of swelling in the upper left side of the face for 2 months. Based on the clinical and radiological findings of cystic cavity along with impacted tooth, lesion was diagnosed as dentigerous cyst and surgical enucleation was planned under general anaesthesia. Dentigerous cysts mostly occur in the mandible and are prevalent between the second to fourth decades of life. The incidence of this cyst in children is less. We present here a case report of a paediatric patient with a rare occurrence of a large cyst in the maxillary anterior region, and the treatment outcome by surgical enucleation and preservation of the permanent tooth bud are discussed. The line of treatment for dentigerous cyst is enucleation and extraction of involved tooth. We recommend the alternative treatment option, which involves enucleation of cyst, and consider the conservation of the affected tooth bud in the view of making its eruption viable in future.