Gemination
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November 2008
Dr Gerhard Steenkamp
A cat presents with a fractured canine. After anaesthetising the patient, you do a full oral
examination and see the following dental anomaly in the maxilla.
a) Give a differential diagnosis list of the anomaly present on the 107 (right maxillary 2nd
premolar tooth)
b) How would you distinguish between the dd’s in a?
c) How did this anomaly come about?
d) Is any treatment indicated for this anomaly?
Memo
a) Supernumerary tooth, gemination, fusion, retained deciduous tooth
b) Tooth size both crowns present are of similar size, therefore excluding a retained deciduous
tooth
Tooth amount during fusion 2 adjacent teeth will fuse therefore leaving the dental compliment with
1 fewer teeth in the relevant arcade
Radiography supernumerary tooth will have its own roots gemination will show double crown but not
double the amount of roots (included radiogrph shows gemination of a mandibular 4th premolar tooth
in a cat with 2 crowns and 3 roots instead of 1 crown and 2 roots).
c) Gemination (gemini formation) is the incomplete split of a single toothbud to create 2 identical
teeth. During this process the crown may completely split but often the roots are shared.
d) Treatment is usually not indicated unless the groove between the 2 crowns goes subgingivally and
create an increased risk for periodontal disease. In these cases, restorative dentistry may help
eliminate the groove to protect the subgingiva from plaque penetration.
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