[Odontogenic and nonodontogenic epithelial rests. Embryological origin]

The close examination of the central osseous and/or parosteal lesions of the jaws must be reconducted to the study of the main fundamental embryonal processes that take place in the primordial stomodeus. Some pathological lesions can arise from the rests that survive after the disgregation of various odontogenic epithelial structures destined to disappear with growth: the epithelial root sheath, the dental lamina and the external epithelium of the enamel organ. Some osseous lesions can also originate from the nonodontogenic epithelial rests: this tissue comes from the uncompleted obliteration of the ectodermic layer during the processes of union and fusion of the various embryonal components of the maxillary structures.