Crown-root fracture in deciduous dentition with late treatment: a clinical case report

Abstract

Traumatic dental-injuries are a common dental emergency, being the crown-root fracture a rare kind of trauma, which represents only 2.5% of all dental traumas. In the deciduous dentition, the prevalence of dental trauma is 22.7%. This clinical case report describes a 3-year-old child who came to the Pediatric Dentistry Clinic with crown-root fracture in tooth 61 that had been untreated for two years. Clinically, the absence of the crown of tooth 61 and the presence of a pulp polyp with a blood clot on its surface were observed. Radiographic examination was performed only two years after the initial trauma, revealing extensive, non-physiological root resorption and an inability to achieve fixed esthetic-functional rehabilitation, indicating the need for root fragment extraction. The fragment was extracted, and post-intervention follow-up was conducted. Although the patient did not present significant clinical changes in the permanent tooth, dental trauma should be diagnosed and treated immediately, as it is known that a favorable prognosis is directly related to the time between the occurrence of the trauma and dental intervention.