Soft Tissue Tooth Impaction in a Dog

Abstract

Soft tissue impaction occurs when erupting teeth fail to penetrate the overlying gingiva. This has been attributed to abnormally dense, fibrous, gingival tissue. However, soft tissue tooth impaction has been reported in humans with histologically normal overlying gingiva and may be the result of a failure of normal breakdown of overlying tissue. This case report describes soft tissue impaction of multiple teeth in a dog with histologically normal overlying gingiva. The impactions were treated with multiple operculectomies that resulted in subsequent eruption of all impacted teeth.