Numb chin syndrome revealing a mandibular metastasis: Case report

Numb chin syndrome (NCS), although rare, is an important clinical finding. It may be a metastatic neurologic manifestation of malignancy, often with no clinically visible pathologic finding.

A 40-year-old female, with prior history of breast cancer, presented to our service with complaint of pain and left mandibular hypoesthesia for four months. Panoramic showed several irregular osteolytic lesions of the mandibular body. CT-scan images showed a large irregular hypodense lesion and a tissue infiltration of the left mandibular body blowing the buccal cortex. Histopathology showed a neoplastic proliferation of carcinomatous cells positive for the cytokeratin AE1/AE3. A diagnosis of breast carcinoma mandibular metastasis was made. The patient was referred sent to the oncology committee. She was treated with Palbociclib and hormone therapy.

In the oral cavity, the mandible is the most common site for metastasis. Metastatic tumors of the oral cavity may be asymptomatic or present different non-pathognomonic. Numb chin syndrome which is considered as an important presentation of oral metastases. The consideration of malignancy as a differential diagnosis may help in early diagnosis and intervention that may affect disease prognosis.

Dentists and other oral health care providers must be aware of this condition to consider metastatic cancer in patients with unexplained facial hypoesthesia.