Pathologic jaw lesions associated with impacted teeth

The aim of this study was to evaluate the histopathologic diagnoses and radiographic characteristics of lesions associated with impacted teeth. In this retrospective study, 2624 biopsy reports were assessed. If the report was a record of a pericoronal lesion, the age and sex of the patient and the location, microscopic diagnosis, radiographic features, and size of the lesion were recorded. The Pearson chi-square, Kruskal-Wallis, and Fisher exact tests were used for statistical analysis. In total, 189 patients (7.2%) had lesions associated with impacted teeth. The mean (SD) age of affected patients was 25.91 (14.38) years, and 51.9% of patients with pericoronal lesions were male. The most common lesion sites were the posterior region of the maxilla (43.3%) and the posterior region of the mandible (38.0%). Dentigerous cysts (DCs) constituted 64.6% of the lesions, and odontogenic keratocysts (OKCs) represented 18.5%. Radiographs were available in 153 cases, and most lesions were radiolucent (96.1%), had well-defined outlines (99.3%), and were unilocular (87.6%). Lesions larger than 2.0 cm were 5.5 times more likely than smaller lesions to be diagnosed as non-DC lesions (P = 0.001; Kruskal-Wallis test). Although most of the lesions associated with impacted teeth were DCs, there were other lesions with aggressive behavior, such as OKCs, ameloblastomas, and glandular odontogenic cysts, which require more extensive treatment. Lesions that were 2.0 cm or greater showed a higher probability of being non-DC lesions.