ASDC J Dent Child. 1999 Jul-Aug; 66(4): 278-9, 229.

A case of dental mutilation.

Erlandsson AL, B�ckman B.

Department of Paediatric Dentistry, Faculty of Odontology, UmeÃ¥ University, Sweden.

A case of ritual mutilation in a fourteen-year-old Ethiopian girl is described. When the girl was three years old she had frequent stomach problems. According to tribal tradition her illness was thought to arise from her mandibular primary canines and these teeth were removed by a medicine man. The extraction damaged the tooth germs of the succedaneous teeth and resulted in deformed permanent canines. This is the first report of a case of dental mutilation from Ethiopia.