Unilateral short root anomaly: an incidental finding on routine radiographic examination

Abstract

A 19-year old female patient with the report of irregularly placed upper front teeth sought orthodontic treatment. Clinically,she exhibited an edge to edge incisal relationship and class III malocclusion. Panoramic radiograph revealed the presence of all teeth including four unerupted third molars. Teeth 16, 26 and 36 were restored due to dental caries. The periodontal and supporting tissues were found to be healthy. Due to suspicion of dental caries on teeth 11 and 12, an intraoral periapical radiograph (IOPA) was taken, which showed abnormally short and conical root with respect to tooth 11, along with well-defined radiopacity on the distoproximal aspect of tooth 11 suggestive of previous restoration. Thereafter, a detailed radiological examination was carried out using cone beam CT (CBCT) in order evaluate the short-rooted tooth,1 2 sectional image obtained from the CBCT showed that total length of the tooth was 14.57 mm, crown length from incisal tip to cementoenamel junction (CEJ) was 10.18 mm and root length from CEJ to the tip of the root was 4.40 mm, (figure 1A-C). The labial alveolar bone concavity over tooth 11 appeared to be more pronounced as compared with the bone morphology of the adjacent tooth 21 (figure 1D,E). This finding suggests a possible developmental aetiology.