RESTORATION OF A FRACTURED INCISOR USING ORIGINAL TOOTH FRAGMENT : A CASE REPORT

Fracture of the crown in a permanent incisor is relatively common. When it occurs with pulp exposure, it presents both restorative and endodontic problems. In the restoration of a fractured incisor, reattachment of the original fragment or restoration with a composite resin is preferred over a temporary crown. If fractured fragment is intact, the tooth can be restored with reattachment of the fragment. An exposed pulp in a young crown-fractured incisor is usually treated with either pulp capping or pulpotomy depending on the size of an exposure and time elapsed since injury. However, in teeth showing vital and/or hyperplastic pulp tissue at the exposure, only superficial layers of the pulp and surrounding dentin should be removed : i.e. partial pulpotomy can be performed in immature as well as mature teeth. This paper reports 2 cases of crown-fractured permanent incisors with pulp exposure that had been treated by reattachment of original fragment followed by partial pulpotomy or partial pulpectomy. The following results are obtained. ; 1. Fragment reattachment is an acceptable semi-permanent restoration of crown fractured young permanent incisor. 2. Partial pulpotomy is recommended as the treatment of choice in crown-fractured permanent teeth with pulp exposure.