A Multicenter Clinicopathologic Evaluation of Odontogenic Tumours in Nigerian Children and Adolescents

Abstract

Introduction: Odontogenic tumours (OTs) are heterogeneous groups of lesions that originate from neoplastic transformation of the remnants of tooth-forming tissues. This multicenter study aims to evaluate and reclassify OTs seen in Nigerian children and adolescents using the newly updated 2017 World Health Organisation (WHO) histological typing and determine the relative prevalence of these tumours.  

Material and Methods: This study reviewed the data on 137 cases of OTs diagnosed among children and adolescents, aged 19 years and below over a period of 12 years in four major tertiary hospitals in Nigeria. All histologically diagnosed OTs were reclassified according to the recently revised 2017 WHO classification.  

Results: A total of 582 OTs were diagnosed at the four study centres and 137 were recorded in children and adolescents, accounting for 23.5% of the total OTs. All OTs seen were benign, the epithelial OTs were the commonest (106; 77.4%) while the mixed OTs were the least frequent (14; 10.2%). The mean age was 14.3±3.8 years, with the age range of 3–19 years and majority (43.1%) of these lesions were recorded in the 16–19 years age group. There was equal gender distribution and strong mandibular site predilection. Ameloblastoma (61.3%), was the most frequent OT.  

Conclusions: Odontogenic Tumors are relatively common among Nigerian children and adolescents. There is high prevalence of the epithelial odontogenic tumours, especially ameloblastoma mostly occurring in the second decade of life and it has a strong predilection for the mandible.