Socket sclerosis can be an obstacle for orthodontic space closure, however, the precise histomorphogenetic mechanism has not been elucidated up to date. A 73 years old female complained of dull pain on palpation in the extraction site of the left maxillary first molar, and uncomfortable to use her complete denture. In panoramic X-ray view the socket sclerosis was clearly demarcated as a radiopaque outline of extracted root. In histological examination the socket sclerosis showed the basophilic deposition of cementum- like materials in the peripheral rim of trabecular bones instead of eosinophilic osteoid materials for intramembranous ossification. In the immunohistochemical staining for osteogenetic proteins, BMP-2 was strongly positive in the peripheral rim of trabecular bone, in which RANKL and osteoprotegerin were also consistently positive. Particularly, versican, a marker of cementum was also positive in the peripheral rim of the trabecular bone. Therefore, it is presumed that the trabecular bones of socket sclerosis were hypermineralized by cementoid ossification, producing cementum-like materials by osteoblasts/cementoblasts derived from the previous periodontium.

Ⅰ. INTRODUCTION
 Ⅱ. MATERIALS AND METHODS
 Ⅲ. RESULTS
 Ⅳ. DISCUSSION
 Ⅴ. CONCLUSIONS
 Ⅵ. References

• 김연숙(Department of Dental Hygiene) | Yeon Sook Kim
• 이보람(College of Health Science, Cheongju University, Cheongju, Department of Oral Pathology) | Bo Ram Lee
• 곽윤영(College of Health Science, Cheongju University, Cheongju, Department of Oral Pathology) | Yoon Young Kwak
• 이석근(College of Health Science, Cheongju University, Cheongju, Department of Oral Pathology) | Suk Keun Lee correspondence