Clinical and histopathological studies of ameloblastoma

Ameloblastoma in the alveolar region

Abstract

Since the occurrence of ameloblastoma in the alveolar region is rare, little is known about its properties. We experienced 6 such cases in 24 years.
Patients' ages at first visit ranged from 9 to 53 years old. Five cases were found in the mandible and one in the maxilla. Five of 6 patients complained of an enlargement of the alveolus whose size ranged from the tip of the little finger to that of the thumb. In 4 cases, the teeth which had been related to the tumor had been extracted and in one child, the tumor-related tooth germ was not evident.
Radiographic examinations revealed that 3 cases had unilocular appearance, 1 had large multilocular, and 2 had honeycomb appearance. Unilocular and multilocular cases had well defined peripheral margins with radiopaque figures, but the honeycomb cases had poorly definable margins. It was interesting to note that the former cases preferentially located in the molar edenturous region expanded to the mandibular body, while the latter in the anterior denturous portion.
Histological examination revealed that the unilocular or multilocular tumors were surrounded by connective tissues and showed an expansive growth pattern, while the honeycomb tumors infiltrated the interspace of bone trabecules and destroyed these structures.
The above findings suggested a possibility that the histological growth pattern of ameloblastoma was destined by the condition of bone trabecules in the alveolus.