Eagle's syndrome: A rare case of young female
A 17-year-old Saudi female patient presented to routine dental care with an intention to undergo orthodontic treatment for her crowding teeth at Riyadh Colleges of Dentistry Pharmacy University Hospital, Riyadh. Past dental history revealed that patient visited a dentist for her dental treatment when she was 11 years old and conventional panoramic radiograph was performed.\nDuring a history taking parents revealed that she has a difficulty in swallowing and restriction during movement of her head to left side and recurrent dull ache in the throat since last 6 years. Patient had sought medical care for the pain several times without a definitive diagnosis or treatment and patient denied any history of depression or anxiety.\nPhysical examination revealed that the patient had a limited neck movement to left side and there was no cervical or submandibular lymphadenopathy. The rest of the neck examination was within normal with no signs of tenderness in thyroid region. There was a bilateral hypertrophy of the masseter muscle. Intraoral examination revealed tenderness on palpation in the tonsillar fossa bilaterally without pericoronitis or any odontogenic infection in the lower third molar area.\nPrevious panoramic radiograph of the patient at the age of 11 years revealed bilateral intermittently calcifying stylohyoid ligament located laterally near the ramus []. Recent digital panoramic radiograph revealed a bilaterally calcified stylohyoid ligament measuring the length of 65 mm on the right and 55 mm on the left side []. Measurements of the length of the styloid processes were made directly on the radiographs from the caudal margin of the tympanic plate to the tip of the styloid process as described by the Jung et al.[]\nA definitive diagnosis of Eagle's syndrome was made based on past history, clinical examination and panoramic radiographic evaluation. Patient referred to an Otolaryngologist for further investigations and treatment.