Open AccessThe So-called Garrè's osteomyelitis of jaws and the pivotal utility of computed tomography scan
Author(s) -
Marco Túllio Brazão–Silva,
Tiago Novaes Pinheiro
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
contemporary clinical dentistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.289
H-Index - 21
eISSN - 0976-237X
pISSN - 0976-2361
DOI - 10.4103/ccd.ccd_304_17
Subject(s) - medicine , osteomyelitis , mandible (arthropod mouthpart) , computed tomography , radiography , radiology , surgery , botany , biology , genus
The present paper draw the attention of clinicians to investigate multiple slices of the computed tomography (CT) scan looking for a safe diagnosis of the so-called Garrè's osteomyelitis (GO) of jaws, a not uncommon disease characterized by astonishing bone growth. We report a case involving the left mandible of a 12-year-old girl presenting with a bony enlargement at left mandible. Initial examination revealed carious process of tooth 36 with radiographic apical rarefaction. However, we need to take care with this diagnosis because other aggressive diseases may cause bone enlargement mimicking GO. We observed here that careful examination of CT slices must be elucidative. In the present case, we observed the formation of a hypodense channel between periapical disease and the bone growth, through CT, thus supporting the pathophysiologic conditions for GO and allowing a safer decision to make the intervention restricted to tooth.