ODONTOGENIC TUMOURS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS: A REVIEW OF FORTY-EIGHT CASES

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A.O. Lawal¹, A.O. Adisa¹ and B.O. Popoola²

1. Department of Oral Pathology, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
2. Department of Child Oral Health, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

Abstract

Objectives: Odontogenic tumours comprise a large heterogeneous group of lesions originating from odontogenic epithelium and/or ectomesenchyme and its vestiges. The aim of this study was to analyze odontogenic tumours in children and adolescents seen at a tertiary institution in South Western Nigeria and compare with results from previous studies.

Material and Methods: Archival records of the Department of Oral Pathology, University College Hospital Ibadan were reviewed. All histologically diagnosed odontogenic tumours in patients 19 years and below spanning a period of 21 years (1990-2011) were retrieved. Data regarding age, gender, and tumor topography were analyzed using SPSS for Window (version 18.0; SPSS Inc. Chicago, IL)

Results: One hundred and forty seven jaw swellings were seen in children and adolescents aged 19 or less during the study period, out of which 48 (32.7%) were odontogenic tumours. More cases were seen in males than females with a male: female ratio of 7:5. The mandible was the commonest site of occurrence with mandible: maxilla ratio of 11:4. Ameloblastoma was the commonest odontogenic tumours with 14 (29.1%) solid ameloblastoma and 9 (18.8%) cystic ameloblastoma cases followed by fibromyxoma with 8 (16.7%) cases. calcifying epithelial odontogenic tumour , calcifying cystic odontogenic tumour and odontogenic fibroma were occasionally seen.

Conclusion: This study showed that ameloblastoma was the most common odontogenic tumour in children and no case of odontoma was seen. Odontogenic tumours in children and adolescents may not be as rare as previously reported by some authors and inclusion of keratocystic odontogenic tumour in this study slightly affected the relative incidence of odontogenic tumors in children and adolescents.

Keywords: Adolescents, Children, Odontogenic tumours

Introduction

Odontogenic tumours comprise a large heterogeneous group of lesions originating from odontogenic epithelium and or ectomesenchyme and its vestiges. ¹ Odontogenic tumours include entities of hamartomatous nature (for example, odontoma), benign neoplasms, some of which are aggressive (for example, ameloblastoma and myxoma) and malignant neoplasms capable of metastasis.^{2, 3} Odontogenic tumours accounted for between 1% and 28% of oral lesions from various studies depending on the criteria categories that were used for comparison.⁴ Odontogenic keratocysts were recently included in the WHO classification of odontogenic tumours as keratocystic odontogenic tumours based on its clinical behaviour, genetic and molecular features. ⁵

Previous reports examined odontogenic tumours in children as part of oral tumors^{6, 7, 8} or studied individual tumors such as ameloblastomas⁹ and adenomatoid odontogenic tumour (AOT)¹⁰, but few have examined Odontogenic tumours generally in children. Reports by Ajayi et al¹¹ and Adebayo et al¹² did not include keratocystic odontogenic tumour (KOT) because as at the time of carrying out their studies, KOT was still regarded as a cystic lesion. The aim of this study was to analyze Odontogenic tumour cases in children and adolescents seen at a tertiary institution in South- Western Nigeria and compare with results from previous studies.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Archival records of the Department of Oral Pathology, University College Hospital Ibadan, Nigeria were reviewed. All histologically diagnosed odontogenic tumours in patients 19 years and below spanning a period of 21 years (1990 – 2011) were
retrieved. Data regarding age, gender, and tumor topography were analyzed using SPSS for Window (version 18.0; SPSS Inc. Chicago, IL)