The maxilla and mandible may be affected by a wide variety of lesions of developmental, neoplastic or inflammatory origin. These lesions have a vast array of clinical and radiographic presentations from which a dentist forms a clinical provisional diagnosis and treats the lesions accordingly. The aim of this study was to determine the range, demographic and clinical features of all histologically diagnosed radiolucent jaw lesions in a New Zealand population over a twenty-year period. Additionally, the provisional diagnosis was compared to the histopathological diagnosis in an effort to gain an insight into the difficulties practitioners face in clinically diagnosing radiolucent jaw lesions.
Material and Methods: From the histopathology diagnostic service at the University of Otago School of Dentistry all specimens with a diagnosis of a radiolucent jaw lesion between 1986 and 2006 were retrieved and classified into six diagnostic categories. For each lesion the age, gender, site, clinical presentation, clinicians provisional diagnosis and the final histological diagnosis was gathered and analysed.
Results: During the study period 4983 specimens were identified as radiolucent jaw lesions. The diagnostic category with the largest number of specimens was inflammatory lesions (72.8%), followed by developmental odontogenic cysts (21.8%). Malignant tumours accounted for less than 1% of all specimens. Concordance of provisional and histopathological diagnoses ranged from 81.0% for nasopalatine duct cyst to 0% for the majority of intra-osseous malignant tumours.
Conclusions: The range and demographic features of radiolucent jaw lesions in this study are comparable to that of other populations with a European majority. No radiolucent jaw lesion can be reliably accurately diagnosed from clinical presentation and radiographic appearance alone.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/208004 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Becconsall, Karyn, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Otago. School of Dentistry |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://policy01.otago.ac.nz/policies/FMPro?-db=policies.fm&-format=viewpolicy.html&-lay=viewpolicy&-sortfield=Title&Type=Academic&-recid=33025&-find), Copyright Karyn Becconsall |
Page generated in 0.0019 seconds