March 8, 2011
School of Dentistry, Kochi
 

A paper authored by Dr. Rakesh S., Associate Professor of Oral Pathology and Microbiology at the Amrita School of Dentistry was recently published in the international journal Head and Neck Pathology.
 

An official publication of the American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology and the International Academy of Oral Pathology, the journal publishes research and review papers covering the entire spectrum of human surgical pathology within the anatomic zones of the oral cavity, sinonasal tract, larynx, hypopharynx and salivary gland.
 

Dr. Rakesh’s paper titled A Rare Case of Dentigerous Cyst in a One-Year-Old Child – The Earliest Case of Known and Reported Occurrence presented the settings and mode of treatment adopted for an unusual disease.
 

Odontogenic cysts are those that commonly occur in the oral cavity. Nearly 20% of these are dentigerous cysts, comprising the second most common type of the cyst of the jaws.
 

“A majority of the odontogenic cysts are associated with impacted or unerupted mandibular third molars followed by maxillary canines and maxillary third molars,” explained Dr. Rakesh. “Very few of these cysts were reported in children younger than 10 years of age.”
 

Usually occurring in children above 10 years of age during the development of permanent teeth, these cysts can grow to very large sizes, thereby disturbing the eruption pattern and destroying the jaw bone.
 

“This is the youngest patient till date in whom dentigerous cysts were reported in dental literature,” he stated.
 

Dr. Rakesh’s paper emphasized that it was extremely important to diagnose the cysts at an early stage so that they could be surgically removed without further disturbance in the growth and development of teeth and jaws.
 

Explaining further, he said, that the child, an 11-month-old boy at the time of diagnosis, was brought in to the Head and Neck Surgery Unit with a swelling in the affected area. Timely intervention by doctors of Head and Neck and Oral Pathology departments led to an early diagnosis and the cyst was successfully removed surgically.
 

Following the treatment, the patient showed normal eruption pattern and jaw development.
 

The co-authors of the paper include Dr. Mahija Janardhanan, Associate Professor, Department of Oral Pathology; Dr. Vinod Kumar R. B., Professor, Department of Oral Pathology and Dr. Sherry Peter, Professor, Department of Head and Neck Surgery at Amrita.