treatment is going to be used. for growing patients, decoronation is used. decoronation is the removal of tooth crown. it serves as an alternative surgery for tooth extraction. it is recommended over extraction because it limits bone resorption and therefore maintains a sufficient growth of alveolar bone to enable tooth implantation . decoronation can be carried out on both deciduous and permanent teeth. however, if the patient is too young and not close to puberty, decoronation should be postponed . in order to maximize the benefits of decoronation, regular monitoring and intervention are needed for non-growing patients, decoronation is generally not recommended because the growth of alveolar bone may be inadequate for a future tooth implant, and therefore is said to not give ideal treatment outcomes. as a result, other methods are considered when treating non-growing patients. follow-ups are often being adopted in the cases of late onset tooth ankylosis. as tooth growth is insignificant, no surgical procedures are needed to treat the ankylosed tooth as long as its height difference with adjacent teeth is small. in some cases where the height difference is more significant, tooth crown build-up is recommended to restore occlusion. in addition to tooth crown build-up, ankylosed teeth repositioning is another conservative method. in surgical luxation, after the bridge of ankylosis is broken mechanically, the tooth is positioned slightly away from its original site and allowed to erupt with a temporary insertion of a splint or an orthodontic appliance. tooth repositioning can also be performed by osteotomy and distraction osteogenesis in cases where surgical luxation fails, or as alternatives. extraction of an ankylosed tooth can be considered in both growing and non-growing patients. this method usually serves as a last resort when other methods such as osteotomy and distraction osteogenesis fail to treat ankylosis. growing state of patient is not the sole factor when deciding the treatment for an ankylosed tooth. infraocclusion severity, bone resorption, location of the target tooth as well as dentist's preference all affect the option for treatment. therefore, treatment for an ankylosed tooth is case-specific. epidemiology the prevalence of tooth ankylosis is still unknown. individuals of both genders regardless of the ethnic groups may be affected due to inheritance or sporadic traumatic injuries.