Effectiveness of conservative treatment of dentigerous cyst in the pediatric patient: A systematic review

The dentigerous cyst is defined as a pathological cavity whose origin is produced by developmental alterations. Most usual treatment is the enucleation of the cyst with the extraction of the tooth. The current approach tends to preserve the tooth. The aim of this study was to determine the total and partial success of the conservative treatment of the dentigerous cyst in terms of eruption of the associated permanent tooth. Pub-Med, Scopus and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched from January 2012 to December 2023, including patients aged 18 years old or less with a dentigerous cyst associated with a repositionable permanent tooth in the arch. 118 articles were found and 24 were included in full text. 40 cases were reported in the mandible (83 %) and 8 in the maxilla (17 %). 29 cases of marsupialization were included (60 %), 17 of enucleation (36 %) and 2 of decompression (4 %). The percentage of teeth that erupted spontaneously, either completely or partially, after marsupialization, enucleation and decompression was 83 %, 59 % and 100 % respectively. No recurrences have been described in any case. This study highlights that the conservative treatment was a predictable procedure with a total success of 83 % by marsupialization and 100 % after decompression.