Surgical extrusion as a treatment option for crown-root fracture in permanent anterior teeth: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: A crown-root fracture is defined as a fracture involving enamel, dentin, and cementum. The possibility of saving and reconstructing teeth with such fractures has increasingly become a viable alternative to extraction and prosthetic therapy. One such treatment option available is surgical extrusion. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this review is to evaluate surgical extrusion as a treatment modality for management of crown-root fractures in permanent anterior teeth. METHODS: Electronic search of scientific papers was carried out on Entrez Pubmed and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases using specific keywords. The search yielded 130 papers, out of which 16 relevant papers were identified and included based on predetermined inclusion criteria and the remaining 114 were found to be irrelevant. Hand search yielded 10 articles, which were also included. These 26 articles which included only case reports and case series formed the basis of this systematic review. CONCLUSION: From the existing literature, we can conclude that surgical extrusion can be used to treat crown-root fractures successfully. But the level of evidence is very low as the studies available are only case reports and case series.