Clinical, Radiographic and Histological Analysis of 122 Cases of Ameloblastomas in a Brazilian Population

Objective: To evaluate the clinical, radiographic and histological characteristics of a series of 122 cases of ameloblastomas in a population living in the city of Recife, PE, Brazil. Method: In this cross-sectional retrospective study, data from the database of the Sector of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology of the Center of Clinical Research in Maxillofacial Surgery of the School of Dentistry of the University of Pernambuco (FOP-UPE) belonging to the period between January 1992 and January 2010 (18 years), were retrieved for evaluation of clinical, radiographic and histological aspects by applying inferential techniques for statistical analysis. Results: Ameloblastomas corresponded to 2.36% of the cystic and tumoral lesions evaluated. The female gender was slightly more prevalent (54.9%), with predominance of Black individuals (45.9%) in the second and third decades of life (54.9%). In 74.6% of the cases, the lesion was asymptomatic, with predilection for the posterior region of the mandible (79.5%) and predominance of the multilocular aspect (84.4%). Regarding lesion size, 61.5% were larger than 3 cm, and more the half of the biopsies were excisional types (55.7%). The follicular histological pattern was the most frequent (67.2%). Conclusion: The characteristics of the Brazilian population affected by ameloblastomas are similar to those reported in the international literature, but there are peculiar characteristics to this population. Similar studies should be conducted with regular periodicity in different regions of Brazil in order to determine the profile of the population affected by this entity of great clinical meaning.