Abstract
In the clinical practice of pediatric dentistry we occasionally encounter patients with submerged primary teeth. Submerged primary teeth, with no other symptoms, can cause abnormal eruption of succedaneous teeth, resulting in impaction of food as well as dental caries. The submerged tooth may be extracted immediately or its condition observed periodically in the hope that the tooth might resume eruption to the occlusion line.
The submerged tooth which is missing a succedaneous tooth should nevertheless be preserved as long as possible from the point of view of maintaining the space. When it appears that it might cause obstruction to the eruption of succedaneous teeth, it is of great importance that the tooth be extracted immediately. Here we report on a case of submergence and impaction of both lower second primary teeth without succedaneous teeth. We therefore extracted both second primary teeth which had been submerged and impacted, and undertook minor tooth movement. At the same time we performed primary oral care and this enabled us to confirm that there were indications that the bone level would catch up to the normal level.
