Oral and maxillofacial tumours in children: a review

This retrospective review presents our experience of oral and maxillofacial tumours in children. The subjects were 250 children under the age of 15 years (out of a total of 2747 patients with oral and maxillofacial tumours), who were treated after histopathological confirmation of their diagnoses during the 28 years 1965-92. Diagnosis, incidence, and age at presentation were the main outcome measures and the results showed that 232 patients (93%) had benign tumours and 18 (7%) were malignant. The most common benign tumour was haemangioma (n = 69) and the most common malignant tumour sarcoma (n = 14). The most common odontogenic tumour was odontoma (n = 47) and non-odontogenic tumour ossifying fibroma (n = 5). The most common site of soft tissue tumours was the tongue (n = 65) and of bony tumours the mandible (n = 62). About a third of the tumours developed in patients between the ages of 6 and 11 years. Most of the angiomas developed in patients less than 6 years old, and most of the ameloblastomas in those over 12 years of age. Children accounted for 55% of patients with lymphangoma, 41% of those with odontoma, and 22% of those with haemangioma. It is concluded that most of these lesions were probably developmental malformations rather than neoplasms, and that the definition of oral and maxillofacial tumours in children should be reconsidered.