Osteomyelitis in Jaw of Children and Young Adults

Osteomyelitis is the inflammatory condition known to affect the jaw bones as well as the long bones of the skeleton. In the facial skeleton, it commences in the medullary portion of the bones and extends further to involve the cortex and periosteum. The diagnosis of osteomyelitis is usually established on the basis of history, presenting clinical features, radiographic and histopathology findings. We present here three cases of osteomyelitis with atypical presentations. Usually in children and young adults, osteomyelitis of facial skeleton is not very common. In maxillofacial skeleton, however, when there are underlying systemic condition, children and young adults may present with osteomyelitis. In certain cases, they also do present as reactionary process in the bone or will have no underlying systemic condition. Diagnosing these cases and management often becomes challenging in the children and young adults.