A man posted an image of a panoramic x-ray of his mouth in the midlyinteresting channel on Reddit and this caused the internet to light up. The Reddit user u/super9mega posted the x-ray with the caption “There’s a tooth in my chin.”
Reddit users were quite amazed and the post has racked up over 50,000 upvoes and over 2,000 comments. The user explained that the tooth is not causing him any discomfort and he was not aware that it even was present prior to the x-ray he received by his dentist. It seems the consensus by the man’s dentist and also those commenting is that it would do more harm than good to attempt to remove the tooth.
With wisdom teeth it is somewhat common to see completely horizontal wisdom teeth that do not erupt. Embedded teeth like this tooth are those that fail to erupt and instead remain completely or partially covered by bone, soft tissue or both. Having a lack of space and obstruction can contribute to having a tooth that does not erupt. A tooth like this man’s in his chin seems to be extremely rare though. Some users on Reddit joked that the man should go brush his chin.
Having teeth in strange positions in the mouth has been covered on this site before such as when discussing the fourth molar as in the posts Why Do Some People have a Fourth Molar? and What to Do about the Fourth Molar: Similar Management Strategies as the Third Molar aka Wisdom Tooth? It seems like some of the comments made with regards to the strategy for the management of the fourth molar could be similarly appied for this man’s tooh in his chin. It seems extraction might be warranted if the presence might be responsible for poor alignment of permanent teeth, or if any complications occur such as cysts, tumors, periodontal disease, and repeated pain. There are unique complications that could happen from extraction on this tooth in the chin including alveolar bone fracture. For a decisions without any active disease or problems it should be made after considering the risks and the benefits associated with extracting or retaining.
One Reddit user who comments says that she is an orthodontic assistant:
“I think I’ve only seen like 3 or 4 completely horizontal teeth like that (not counting wisdom teeth, that’s more common than other teeth) our office always tries to do everything we can to ‘retrieve’ un-erupted teeth similar to this usually through something we call surgical exposure which involves over time pulling the tooth into place with a small chain that attaches to braces and overlay wires. Sadly, placement like yours is basically a lost cause to try to correct though, it would do more damage than good.
One Reddit user who comments say he is a dentist and that the tooth in the chin is a cuspid that has not erupted. It appears that the Reddit user may just have to keep the tooth in his chin for now. If anyone has any of their own x-rays showing teeth in unusual places feel free to add your comment below.
Source:
- Alice Gibs, “‘Creepy’ X-Ray Revealing Tooth Inside Chin Terrifies the Internet,” Newsweek, May 12, 2022. https://www.newsweek.com/x-ray-revealing-tooth-inside-chin-terrifies-internet-1706024