Cystic lesions of the jaws - A review and analysis of 269 cases

Two hundred and sixty-nine patients (160 males and 109 females) with cystic lesions of the jaw were successfully diagnosed and treated. One hundred and twenty-nine (48%) were radicular cysts, 67 (25%) were dentigerous cysts, 19 (7%) were primordial cysts, 16 (6%) were eruption cysts, 14 (5%) were traumatic bone cysts, and 17 (9%) were nonodontogenic cysts. There were 79 in the pediatric age group (1 month to 16 years) and 190 in the adult age group (17 years and older). Male to female ratio was 1 in the pediatric age group and 1.7 in the adult age group. The treatment modalities were marsupialization, enucleation, or enucleation with bone grafting. The findings demonstrate that the distribution and characteristics of jaw cysts in children are different from those in adults. In children, there is a relatively high rate of developmental cysts, whereas in adults, the inflammatory cysts are more common.