Ectopic teeth in the maxillary sinus: A case report and literature review

Abstract

Ectopic eruption of teeth is a rare phenomenon although there have been reports of teeth in the nasal septum, mandibular condyle, and maxillary sinus. This impaction can present itself in a variety of ways such as chronic or recurrent sinusitis, sepsis, and facial numbness and can also be asymptomatic. The aim of this study was to describe, by means of research literature and by a case report, the characteristics and occurrence of ectopic eruption in the maxillary sinus. We have analyzed and compared clinical cases of ectopic teeth in the maxillary sinus with a search on PubMed utilizing keywords such as “ectopic,” “teeth,” “sinus,” “maxillary,” and Boolean operators “or” and “and” up until 2016. Fifty-one cases were found, of which 53% were female. The age ranged between 3 and 72 years, with an average age of 28.36 years. The higher prevalence of ectopic teeth is the 3rd molars. Ten of these teeth are associated with a dentigerous cyst, 1 by an osteoma, and 2 by soft tissue. Standard treatment for an ectopic tooth is extraction, but for other patients, treatment of choice in asymptomatic ectopic tooth cases is continued observation. Ectopic teeth tend to form a cyst or tumor if not managed.

Keywords

• Cone-beam computerized tomography
• ectopic teeth
• maxillary sinus