Saraswathi Gopal K and Sowmya Hemanthakumar. / International Journal of Advanced Dental Research, 2017;3(1):1-5. 1 International Journal of Advanced Dental Research Journal homepage: www.mcmed.us/journal/ijadr ERUPTED ODONTOMA - AN UNUSUAL CASE REPORT K. Saraswathi Gopal 1 and Sowmya Hemanthakumar 2* 1 Professor & Head of Department of Oral medicine and Radiology, Meenakshi Ammal Dental College & Hospital, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India. 2 Post Graduate, Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Meenakshi Ammal Dental College & Hospital, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India. Article Info Received 12/01/2017 Revised 17/01/2017 Accepted 02/02/2017 Key words: Hamartomatous lesion, compound complex odontoma. ABSTRACT Odontomas are the hamartomatous lesions composed of enamel, dentin, cementum and pulp tissue. They are slow-growing, benign tumours showing nonaggressive behaviour. Usually asymptomatic and are often discovered during routine radiography. We report a rare case of compound complex odontoma in mandible in an adult patient with clinical, radiological, histological features and treated surgically, with its review of the literature. INTRODUCTION The term odontoma refers to any tumour of odontogenic origin. An odontoma is a growth in which both epithelial and mesenchymal cells exhibit complete differentiation with the result that functional ameloblasts and odontoblasts form enamel and dentin respectively. This enamel and dentin are usually laid down in an abnormal pattern because the organization of the odontogenic cells fails to reach a normal state of morphodifferentiation [1]. These tumours are basically formed of enamel and dentin but they can also have variable amounts of cementum and pulp tissue [2], They are slow-growing, benign tumours [3]. It was in 1867 that Paul Broca first used the term “Odontoma.” Broca defined the term as tumors formed by the overgrowth of transitory or complete dental tissues [4]. According to the latest classification of the World Health Organization (WHO, 2005), two types of odontomas can be found: complex odontomas - a malformation in which all dental tissues are present, but arranged in a more or less disorderly pattern; and compound odontomas – a malformation in which all of the dental tissues are represented in a pattern that is more orderly than that of the complex type , the latter being twice as common as the former [5, 6]. The erupted odontomas are the ones which are present coronal to an erupting or impacted tooth or superficially in bone and may have enabled its eruption into the oral cavity. The first case of an erupted odontoma was described in 1980 by Rumel et al. [7,8]. In 1974, Shafer, Hine and Levy described odontomes as tumors of odontogenic origin but their current views support that an odontome is now widely accepted by most authorities as a hamartoma [9]. Here we present a rare case of erupted odontome in mandibular anterior region. Case report A 34 years old male patient reported to the Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Meenakshi Ammal Dental College and Hospital, chennai with a chief complaint of presence of a small hard mass in lower front teeth region and its undesirable appearance was a concern. He had no complaint of pain or any other previous Corresponding Author:- Sowmya Hemanthakumar E-mail: sowmi.bio@gmail.com