CLINICAL HISTORY:
A 28-year-old lady with history of right mandibular tumour with resection done during childhood, presented with gradual onset of painless right mandibular swelling for 3 years.
DIAGNOSIS:
Ameloblastoma
DISCUSSION:
Ameloblastoma is a benign, but locally aggressive odontogenic lesion. It
commonly arises from the ramus and posterior body of the mandible.
Typically, it is a mixed cystic and solid lesion with soap-bubble
appearance, and its associated with the crown of an impacted or unerupted
tooth, resorption of the adjacent root of a tooth is also a common finding.
However, they can vary in the radiological appearance, some of them are very
well-defined, unilocular, well-corticated, lucent lesions that are often
associated with the crowns of impacted or unerupted teeth, as a result, such
ameloblastomas are indistinguishable from odontogenic keratocysts and
dentigerous cyst radiologicaly. Other ameloblastomas are multilocular with
internal septa and a honey-comb or soap bubble appearance and are often
similar in appearance to odontogenic keratocysts. In most of the cases,
radiological features are unable to make a definitive diagnosis, so these
lesions should be surgically removed and examined microscopically to
accurately establish the diagnosis.
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