(TC34) To Intervene or Not to Intervene: A Case of Horizontal Root Fracture with Four-Year Follow-up

Abstract: Horizontal root fractures have an incidence of 0.5%-7% among all dental impact injuries with the greatest prevalence observed in maxillary central incisors. A thorough evaluation, including multiple radiographs at various angulations and baseline vitality testing at the time of injury, can aid in the proper diagnosis and management of horizontal root fractures. Factors shown to have the greatest impact on healing are age, stage of root development, location of fracture, and mobility of coronal segment among others. Several studies have shown that with proper management, satisfactory healing was observed with horizontal root fracture in over 75% of cases, further suggesting that surgical intervention (i.e., extraction) as first line treatment is likely inappropriate. We present a clinical case in which proper diagnosis and conservative management of a horizontal root fracture resulted in excellent healing with a four year follow up.