Achondroplasia-Differential Diagnosis And Orthodontic implications- A Case Report

• Author Details:   
• Rosaline Tina Paul ^*
• Biswas P.P.
• Ligil A.R
• Joseph K.Thanikunnel
• Hemant Nandan

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Achondroplasia is a common skeletal dysplasia that results in marked short stature. Encountering patients who are medically, physically and genetically challenged in our orthodontic clinical practice is a very common occurrence. A successful orthodontist should handle such patients with great clinical care and tailor his treatment according to the needs of the patient. Here is a case presentation in which a 15 year old girl having Achondroplasia came to our clinic with a chief complaint of inability to clean the teeth properly because of its irregular placement. After receiving the consent of the physician treating the patient, routine blood investigations, chromosomal analysis and routine orthodontic diagnostic tests were performed and fixed appliance therapy was carried out with first four bicuspid extractions. After the treatment the smile and profile improved drastically. Most important aspect was that the time taken for the treatment to complete was just as would be for any other orthodontic patient. The case finished without any untoward complications like resorption or any periodontal problems. In this article, the differential diagnosis and the orthodontic implications of a patient with Achondroplasia is described in detail.

KEYWORDS: Achondroplasia, FGFR3 mutation, Hypochondroplasia, Thanatophoric dystrophy,
SADDAN syndrome, Pseudoachondroplasia.