It all began with a painless lump.
A 16-year-old noticed swelling in the left eyelid and, a month later, went to Aravind Eye Hospital in Madurai, India. Two small, hard, white structures had appeared between the eyelid and eyebrow. The doctors suspected they were teeth, but also considered a teratoma, a tumor that can contain hair, bone, or teeth.
The CT scan cleared up the mystery: what they could see were the two tips of a single, fully formed canine tooth, with its root attached to the bone at the top of the left eye socket. The surgeons removed it and confirmed that it was unrelated to any tumor. This is known as an ectopic tooth: a tooth that forms or erupts outside the mouth.
Cases like this have been documented in the nose, palate, or jaw, but there are no previous reports of one here. According to the authors, whose findings were published in the journal Ophthalmology, this is the first case reported in the superior orbit. And the question remains: why did a tooth decide to grow right there? 🦷👁️
