2007 Volume 26 Issue 2 Pages 61-67
Garrè's osteomyelitis of the jaw is characterized by a nonsuppurative form of osteomyelitis involving the formation of periosteal new bone. We report a rare case of Garrè's osteomyelitis associated with perimandibular abscess.
The patient, an 11-year-old girl, came to our clinic complaining of swelling of the left mandible. CT examination revealed bone destruction around the left impacted wisdom tooth and its suited mandibular ramus, as well as overgrowth of bone on the cortex of the mandibular ramus. MR images showed high signal intensity in the left masseter muscle and perimandibular soft tissue. A biopsy specimen was obtained from the expanded cortical regions, and simultaneously, incision and drainage were performed and the causative wisdom tooth and surrounding soft tissue were removed. Subsequent treatment with antibiotics yielded a favorable prognosis with disappearance of the periosteal new bone and restoration of the bone destruction of the wisdom tooth region after 8 months.
