Article
Specialist referral may be indicated if the Practitioner feels:
Odontogenic diseases may be related to the tooth or tooth germ.
Caries, periodontitis or pericoronitis are the common oral pyogenic infections. Depending on the bacterial load and host immunity, dental pulpal infection may lead to apical periodontitis, abscess and fascial space infection, or granuloma or periapical (radicular) cyst.
Most jaw cysts arise from odontogenic epithelium. Odontogenic cysts (and tumours) arise from ectoderm, mesenchyme or a combination (ectomesenchyme) involved in tooth germ formation and they may be related to the site of a tooth germ, or may be associated with a tooth. There is an overall male predominance and the mandible is affected three times as commonly as the maxilla.
Jaw cysts are often asymptomatic presenting as an incidental finding, on radiographs, as a well-defined, corticated radiolucency owing to their benign, slow-growing nature. They may reach a large size before they give rise to:
Occasionally carcinomas may arise within some cysts.
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