VERY unusual tooth!
This was a really amazing case. This unusual tooth is known as a “dens in dente”. This happens when two (or more) teeth develop together (almost like siamese twins), but we’re talking about teeth! I have been practicing for over 30 years and I have not seen one quite like this. I used the “GentleWave” to clean and power wash the root canal system and the result was really amazing.
Patient is a 13-year old healthy male. He was referred for pain and swelling, tooth #10. Patient is currently going through orthodontic treatment as you can see in the images. NEITHER HE OR HIS MOTHER HAD BEEN TOLD THAT THERE WAS ANYTHING UNUSUAL ABOUT HIS TOOTH. They were completely unaware of this “dens in dente”. This is like a tooth stacked on top of another tooth, wrapped inside of a larger tooth. Very unusual anatomy. Another dentist had ground off a large “bump” on the inside of #10 not fully understanding what he was seeing (I assume). But in doing so he had actually exposed the dental pulp/nerve. I saw the young man for a consultation and told his mother that I didn’t think we had much chance of successfully treating it—at least the chance of success would be very low. I had only been using the GentleWave system for about 3 months at this point. We discussed the possibility that the GentleWave might make it possible to treat his tooth successfully. I thought it was a long shot at best but they wanted to proceed, so we did. Treatment was completed in November 2018. I saw him for recall/checkup in February to check his healing (after only 3-months of healing). I felt really good about how well the procedure went and I was hopeful for a positive outcome but I had now idea that it would look this good, this fast. The 3-month checkup radiographic image is included here. Tooth #10 is asymptomatic and he has no issues. The abscess appears to have healed–much faster than we normally see. If the GentleWave can clean out a crazy canal system like THIS I feel like it can clean just about any tooth. There is no question in my mind that the canal system is cleaner when we use the GentleWave system. THAT was really a fun case!
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