Dental News - Case report presents rare incidence of retained tooth in nasal cavity

Dental Tribune International

Thu. 9. May 2019

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AARHUS, Denmark: Besides everyday diagnoses, there are some real rarities to be found in the world of medicine. This was true for a patient at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery of the Aarhus University Hospital. After two years of a stuffy and runny nostril and the loss of his ability to smell, doctors discovered that a retained tooth growing in his nasal cavity was the reason for his symptoms.

A CT scan of the 59-year-old patient revealed a mucus-covered mass on the floor of his nasal cavity. As a result, the doctors suspected that the patient had either a dermoid cyst—a growth that some people are born with that contains structures such as hair, teeth, fluid or skin glands—or an impacted tooth.

The medical team decided to use an endoscope to perform a surgical extraction. The examination of the extracted mass revealed the retained tooth, which was covered with inflamed nasal tissue.

Usually, a condition like this is caused by trauma, infections from a cyst, or developmental disturbances such as cleft lip or cleft palate, but the doctors had no obvious explanation for this particular case, as stated in their report.

“Our patient most likely had the intranasal retained tooth most of his life, but had late onset of symptoms,” stated co-author Dr Milos Fuglsang, who had carried out the tooth extraction.

According to the BMJ, only 23 patients have been identified as experiencing similar incidents over a period from 1959 to 2008. It is most common in males and more common among adults than children. For Fuglsang, this was the first case of its kind in his medical career.

The case report, titled “Retained tooth in the nasal cavity: A rare cause of nasal congestion”, was published on 21 February 2019 in BMJ Case Reports.

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