Salvage of an impacted canine associated with an adenomatoid odontogenic tumour: a case report.

The adenomatoid odontogenic tumour (AOT) has been known by a number of descriptive names (adenoameloblastoma, ameloblastic adenomatoid tumour, glandular ameloblastoma, and adenomatoid ameloblastoma) since it was first reported and later recognised as a distinct odontogenic lesion unrelated to ameloblastoma. Although it was considered to be a variant of ameloblastoma at one time leading surgeons to perform unduly aggressive surgery, the treatment outcome experience has borne out the benign, nonaggressive nature of this lesion. The AOT is now considered to be a hamartoma with completely benign behaviour. Recurrence seldom if ever occurs after surgical curettage. Thus, it appears needless to extract involved anterior teeth associated with the tumour, especially in children. We report a case in which surgical and orthodontic treatment helped to salvage an impacted mandibular canine associated with an AOT in an adolescent girl. We have not found such a procedure to have been done for this tumour in the literature.