Surgical management of compound odontoma associated with unerupted tooth: a case report

Compound odontoma has been reported to be the most common of all odontogenic neoplasms and tumor- like lesions. It is a slow-growing, asymptomatic neoplasms found incidentally during a routine radiography examination. In general, the clinical indicators of odontoma may include eruption disturbance (non-eruption of permanent teeth, retention of deciduous teeth), expansion of the cortical bone, teeth malposition and pain. In this case, the presence of odontoma prevented the physiological eruption of permanent mandible incisor. We describe the surgical procedure to remove a compound odontoma of 21 small tooth-like structures localized in the mandible of a child boy associated with an unerupted permanent mandible incisor.