title: Gemination or fusion? - challenge for dental practitioners (case study).
abstract: Gemination and fusion are anomalies in size, shape and structure of teeth. Gemination more frequently affects the primary teeth, but it may occur in permanent dentitions, usually in the incisor region. Geminated teeth are typically disfigured in appearance due to irregularities of the enamel. Fused teeth can have separated pulpal space, one pulp chamber and two canals or take the form of a large bifid crown with one pulpal space. It is hard to differentiate between fusion and gemination, especially if the supernumerary tooth bud is fused with the adjacent one. Usually, fusion may be differentiated from germination by a reduced number of teeth. An exception is in the unusual case in which the fusion is between a supernumerary tooth and normal tooth. A 20-year-old male referred to us at - "UniDent" - Dental Clinic, Training and Research Center. The patient complained about the large, unusual maxillary central incisors, lip irritation and aesthetic problems. According clinical examination and radiological findings, clinical diagnose was - bilateral germination of central incisors. Several treatment methods have been described in the literature with respect to the different types and morphological variations of fused and geminated teeth, including endodontic, direct\indirect restorative, surgical, periodontal and/or orthodontic treatment. Our patient has demanded for better aesthetics and he choose the treatment option to make two separate PFM crowns. In the beginning of treatment, the length of tooth 11 was 9.5mm, after prosthodontic treatment it has become 11.5mm. For tooth 21, it was 9.9 millimeter and became - 10.8 mm, while the primary width of right central incisor appeared 13.2 millimeter and was narrowed until 10.8 mm. 12.8 mm was the - width of left central incisor, which finally became - 10.4 mm. Despite the considerable number of cases reported in the literature, the differential diagnosis between these abnormalities is very difficult, as well as, to find guideline of proper outcome of treatment therapy of abovementioned abnormalities. That's why, the aesthetic rehabilitation of doubled teeth, has been suggested, to depend upon the patient's desires, but at the same time, avoid treatment plans with aggressive management.
authors.affiliation: Tbilisi State Medical University, Department of Odontology, UniDent - Dental Clinic, Training and Research Center, Tbilisi, Georgia.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chipashvili
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vadachkoria
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Beshkenadze
mesh_terms: D005671:Fused Teeth / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007180:Incisor / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D019228:Tooth Crown / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000601:surgery; D014096:Tooth, Supernumerary / Q000601:surgery; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult