Garre's osteomyelitis of the mandible resolved by endodontic treatment

A case of Garre's osteomyelitis of the mandible is presented. The occlusal radiographs are good examples of the redundant cortical layering of the bone (onion skinning) that is classically found with this phenomenon. The cause of this case was a necrotic pulp in a carious molar with a periapical radiolucent area. We believe this is the first reported case in which an odontogenic source of infection (carious tooth) was treated not by extraction but by endodontic therapy. During the year after the root canal filling, the periapical radiolucent area filled in with new bone and the bony expansion of the mandible was completely resolved.