Unilateral fusion of primary molars with the presence of a succedaneous supernumerary tooth: case report.

Fusion of either primary or permanent molars is rare. Fusion can be either partial or complete, depending on the developmental stage of the teeth when the fusion began. This paper reports a case of unilateral fusion of maxillary primary molars associated with an adjacent succedaneous supernumerary permanent tooth. Three studies have reported primary double molars associated with syndromes. Two of these studies reported "globodontia" in the primary posterior dentition of otodental syndrome,whereas the other was reported in a child with Russell-Silver syndrome. In these studies the authors suggest that the enlarged molars were the result of a partial duplication of growth centers, fusion of the molars with supernumerary elements,4 and/or associated with developmental changes in the dental lamina. Only two cases of fused primary molars have been reported in normal, healthy patients. The first one was reported by Yuen, et al., in a retrospective radiographic study of 376 patients; however, neither radiographs nor photographs of the fused molars were published. More recently Acs, et al., have reported the first documented case of "bilateral double teeth" involving maxillary primary molars in a 5-year-old African-American with an unremarkable medical history. They described two separate pulp chambers and several roots. Two reports have described fused lower permanent molars associated with enlarged pulp chambers and supernumerary roots.' These were normal healthy patients.