The following symptoms and complaints may indicate an odontogenic tumor:
Main symptoms
- Often asymptomatic (radiological incidental finding).
- Mostly painless, bone-hard swelling
- Possibly “parchment crackling” on palpation (indentation / movement of a thin layer of bone over the tumor).
- No pressure pain
- If necessary, displacement of teeth or resorption of tooth roots.
Main symptoms
- Classic intrabony ameloblastoma
- Few symptoms
- Facial asymmetry
- Distension
- Swelling
- Tooth loosening
- Spontaneous fracture (“spontaneous tooth fracture”) possible
- Rarely pain
- Penetration into soft tissue possible
- Localization: mandible more often affected than maxilla (5.4: 1) – 80% in the mandibular angle.
- Peripheral ameloblastoma
- Painless
- Exophytic (“growing beyond a surface”) growth of the gingiva (gums) or mucosa (oral mucosa)
- Localization: up to 70% in the lower jaw.
- Unicystic ameloblastoma
- Impaired tooth eruption/impacted tooth
- Ameloblastic fibroma
- Painless
- Slowly expansive
- In 75% of cases associated with unerupted teeth.
- Adenomatoid odontogenic tumor (AOT).
- Localization:
- Intrabony follicular or extrafollicular: predominantly associated with impacted maxillary canines.
- Peripheral
- Localization:
- Calcifying odontogenic cyst
- Painless
- Slowly progressive (advancing) swelling
- In 25% of cases with impacted tooth
- Calcifying epithelial odontogenic tumor (KEOT).
- Localization:
- V. a. mandibular-molar region
- Mostly intraosseous (inside the bone), more rarely peripheral-extraosseous (“around or outside the bone”)
- Localization:
- Odontoma
- Painless
- Incidental finding in eruption disorder of a permanent tooth.
- Compound: mostly in the front of the upper jaw
- Complex: mostly in the posterior mandible
- Ossifying fibroma
- Painless swelling
- Mostly pre-molar/molar region of the mandible
- Fibromyxoma
- Slow and mostly painless
- Distension of the jaw bone (asymmetry) with penetration of soft tissue.
- Mucosal ulceration at an advanced stage.
- Tooth tilting and displacement
- Occlusion disorders (disorders of the tooth contacts of the upper and lower jaw to each other).
- Paresthesias
- Exophthalmos
- Localization:
- 70% mandible, v. a. molar region.
- Upper jaw: growth into maxillary sinus, obstruction of nasal breathing possible.
- Benign cementoblastoma
- Slow, usually unilateral growth
- Jaw distension and swelling in 70%.
- Pain in 61
- Teeth always react vital!
- Localization: 75% in the mandibular posterior region.