Un raro caso di odontoma

Odontomas are not really rare hamartomas in the general practice of oral and maxillofacial surgeons. The most common location is the anterior region of the maxilla (67%), as compared with the mandible (33%), but the peculiarity of this case was the location of a multiple odontoma in the posterior mandible. Usually, odontomas may cause disturbances in the eruption of teeth such as impaction, delayed eruption or retention of primary teeth; in those cases or in the event of any dentition anomaly or jaw deformation in children or adolescents, it is very important to investigate the presence of possible odontomas with radiographic examinations. In the above case, no delayed eruption was found. The radiographs alone enabled us to identify the firm adherence of the odontoma to the alveolar nerve and to prevent possible nerve compression consequences. The lesion was surgically excised in a conservative way, using an intraoral approach with total anesthesia, to ensure that the nerve is preserved.