A Bag of Marbles: A Fascinating Compound Odontoma of the Maxilla.

Odontomas are the most common odontogenic tumors, typically diagnosed during the first two decades of life. 1 The purpose of this paper was to report an interesting case of an eight-year-old Caucasian boy who presented with an asymptomatic, progressive, firm swelling of the right maxilla with no eruption of the permanent maxillary right lateral incisor. Radiographic investigation revealed a mixed radiolucent and radiopaque lesion measuring 28 by 24 by 17 mm with a corticated border causing expansion and thinning of the buccal cortical plate. This large bag-of-marbles-like appearance representing odontoids was impeding his adult teeth from erupting; hence, complete surgical removal under general anesthesia was the treatment of choice. Removal of the lesion resulted in an unexpected loss of the embedded permanent maxillary right lateral incisor. Histopathological investigations gave a diagnosis of compound odontoma; due to their low growth potential, recurrence after removal is not expected.