Cracked tooth syndrome (CTS) is where a tooth has incompletely cracked but no part of the tooth has yet broken off. Sometimes it is described as a greenstick fracture. The symptoms are very variable, making it a notoriously difficult condition to diagnose. Classification and definition
Cracked tooth syndrome could be considered a type of dental trauma and also one of the possible causes of dental pain. One definition of cracked tooth syndrome is "a fracture plane of unknown depth and direction passing through tooth structure that, if not already involving, may progress to communicate with the pulp and/or periodontal ligament." Signs and symptoms
The reported symptoms are very variable, and frequently have been present for many months before the condition is diagnosed. Reported symptoms may include some of the following:

Sharp pain when biting on a certain tooth, which may get worse if the applied biting force is increased. Sometimes the pain on biting occurs when the food being chewed is soft with harder elements, e.g. seeded bread. "Rebound pain" i.e. sharp, fleeting pain occurring when the biting force is released from the tooth, which may occur when eating fibrous foods. Pain on biting
Pain when grinding the teeth backward and forward and side to side. Sharp pain when drinking cold beverages or eating cold foods, lack of pain with heat stimuli. Pain when eating or drinking sugary substances.
Disruptions in this pathway, caused by FLNB mutations, result in the bone and cartilage abnormalities associated with boomerang dysplasia.Chondrocytes, which also have a role in bone development, are susceptible to these disruptions and either fail to undergo ossification, or ossify incorrectly.FLNB mutations are involved in a spectrum of lethal bone dysplasias. One such disorder, atelosteogenesis type I, is very similar to boomerang dysplasia, and several symptoms of both often overlap. Genetics
Early journal reports of boomerang dysplasia suggested X-linked recessive inheritance, based on observation and family history. It was later discovered, however, that the disorder is actually caused by a sporadic genetic mutation fitting an autosomal dominant genetic profile.Autosomal dominant inheritance indicates that the defective gene responsible for a disorder is located on an autosome, and only one copy of the gene is sufficient to cause the disorder, when inherited from a parent who has the disorder.Boomerang dysplasia, although an autosomal dominant disorder, is not inherited because those afflicted do not live beyond infancy. They cannot pass the gene to the next generation. Diagnosis
Treatment
See also
Larsen syndrome

References


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