Invasive Actinomycosis of Maxilla-An Unusual Case Report

ABSTRACT

Cervicofacial actinomycosis is an unusual infectioncaused by Actinomyces species. It rarely involves themaxilla. We present a case of an elderly female with aleft sided maxillary swelling which was diagnosed asleft maxillary actinomycosis invading the adjacentstructures suspected to be secondary to a bone neoplasmon the basis of histopathology. The organism grew inculture in our laboratory and hence this case is adeviation from the common feature that cultures aremost of the times of little help in detecting thisorganism. The classical growth of this organism onculture in addition to the histopathology report highlyempowered the diagnosis of this case. Also, our findingsthat it can permeate the surrounding structures and canproduce a conundrum for the diagnosis are noteworthy