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Dacryolith: two case reports

¹ Department of Oral Diagnosis and Radiology, Faculty of Dentistry, Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey; ² Department of Oral Diagnosis and Radiology, Faculty of Dentistry, Suleyman Demirel University, Isparta, Turkey

*Correspondence to: Dr Ulkem Aydin, Baskent Universitesi, Dis Hekimligi Facultesi, 11. sokak, Bahceliever, Ankara, Turkey;Email: ulkem_aydin{at}yahoo.com

Received 10 July 2006; accepted 25 August 2006

Dacryolith is a concretion within the nasolacrimal system. Dacryoliths may cause intermittent epiphora without inflammation, or recurrent dacryocystitis may develop. In this report, we present two patients with dacryoliths. The first patient had presented with a complaint of swelling and epiphora and had been told that she had lacrimal canal obstruction. This patient was unaware of the cause of obliteration and was asymptomatic. The second patient complained of headache, eye swelling and inflammation; dacryolith was diagnosed by clinical examination and dacryocystography. Dacryoliths were detected on the panoramic radiographs as small, rounded, radiopaque calcifications located in the inner aspect of the medial wall of the orbit. The image of dacryoliths must be differentiated from radiographic artefacts and foreign objects, and it is important to recognize dacryoliths on panoramic radiographs and to refer the patients for medical care, if necessary.

Keywords: dacryolith; calcification; ossification; panoramic; radiography