AMELOBLASTOMA

Without doubt, the best-known odontogenic tumor, the ameloblastoma, is often used as the norm by which other

CALCIFYING EPITHELIAL ODONTOGENIC CYST

Calcifying epithelial odontogenic cyst (CEOC) or Gorlin’s cyst, occurs both as a cyst and (less commonly) as a solid tumor, the common characteristics being derivation from odontogenic epithelium, calcification, and so-called ghost cell keratinization (recently identified as coagulative necrosis of proliferated odontogenic epithelium)

Benign Odontogenic Tumors

With the exception of odontomas, odontogenic tumors are quite rare, probably constituting fewer than 1% of all jaw cysts and tumors.Some, such as the ameloblastoma and the calcifying epithelial odontogenic (Pindborg) tumor, are undoubtedly neoplastic; others, such as the compound odontoma and periapical cemental dysplasia, are most likely hamartomas. Malignant variants of several odontogenic tumors also attest to the neoplastic nature of at least some odontogenic growths.Although there have been many attempts at classifying odontogenic tumors, uncertainty concerning the cells of origin of many of these lesions, the bewildering array of histologic types of odontogenic tumors that result from inductive changes in the mesodermal component of these lesions, and their relative rarity all cause difficulty in the histopathologic diagnosis of some of these lesions.
For the majority of these lesions, the descriptions and illustrations included in the 1971 WHO classification of neoplasms and other tumors related to the odontogenic apparatus remain unchanged although the categories of squa-TABLE 7-2 Histopathologic Classification of Odontogenic Tumors