Bilateral Enamel defect 309 & 409

RE: Bilateral Enamel defect 309 & 409

Rachel Perry — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 17:50:34 GMT

That should say "furcational" not fractional!

RE: Bilateral Enamel defect 309 & 409

Rachel Perry — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 09:46:00 GMT

There's a good paper that describes these "carnassial tooth malformations" https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2019.00464/full

There is already fractional bone loss evident due to the periodontitis associated with the malformed enamel in that area. Your radiograph doesn't show the apices of those roots, which would be vital too ensure no endodontic pathology. Will require regular radiographic control, and warn the client extraction may eventually become necessary.

RE: Bilateral Enamel defect 309 & 409

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 02:22:43 GMT

I take it that employment of a sharp explorer has confirmed these are just enamel defects and not caries? I'm not doubting you, and in the photo it doesn't look very much like caries in appearance or site; but one needs to be sure, because caries would definitely need treatment.

There's a bit of gingival margin redness, in the photo, adjacent to the lesion, but maybe that's from probing, or maybe it's just a photographic artefact?

The type and level of bone loss I think you might see in many a dog of 5 years or older. So there's a bit of periodontal disease around the mesial root and interproximally to the 8. The inter-radicular bone appearance is mildly concerning. But I'm not at all sure that the enamel defect has in any way predisposed to the periodontal disease.

On the grounds of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" I probably wouldn't do anything with these lesions right now, just concentrate on oral hygiene. On the other hand, if the edge of the lesion dips well below the gum line (doesn't look like it in the photo) you could consider a slight gingivoplasty and restoring the defect with a bit of flowable composite.

Does that help? I see lesions like this from time to time but I don't get too worried.

As for the cause, who knows? Because it's symmetrical, one suspects it's developmental.