Gingival fibromatosis and significant tooth eruption delay in an 11-year-old male: a 30-month follow-up

Abstract

This case report describes the dental management of an unusual case of idiopathic gingival fibromatosis with multiple impacted primary teeth, and the absence of eruption of permanent teeth, in an 11-year-old boy and at the 30-month follow-up. The patient presented with severely enlarged gingival tissues affecting both arches and multiple retained and non-erupted primary teeth. He had already been subjected to localized gingivectomies at the ages of 7 and 9 years. He had no known syndrome and there was no family history of any similar disorder. The patient was treated under general anaesthesia to remove the excessive gingival tissues using apically positioned flaps. During the surgical procedure, over-retained and unerupted impacted primary teeth were extracted in order to facilitate the eruption of the permanent successors. Two years postoperatively, there was no recurrence of the gingival enlargement. Overdentures were then constructed because none of the permanent teeth had yet erupted. Furthermore, pre-eruptive coronal resorption was detected radiographically affecting the crown of the unerupted 36. Thirty months postoperatively, no recurrence of gingival enlargement was seen, but the permanent teeth had still not erupted.