CYSTS OF THE OROFACIAL REGION: A 35 YEAR DEMOGRAPHIC DATA AT AN INDIAN DENTAL INSTITUTE.

Introduction: The odontogenic cysts form a significant portion of the pathologies affecting the orofacial structures and pose a challenge for clinical diagnosis. The geographic distribution may be varied and thus determining the distribution of cysts of the oral and maxillofacial regions, according to age, gender and anatomical distribution may aid in the diagnosis. Methods: Dental records of histologically diagnosed biopsy specimens of cysts of oro-facial region were procured from the period of January 1981 to December 2015.The clinical data and radiological findings and final histopathological diagnosis were recorded and subjected to statistical analysis . Results: comparing prevalence of all the cystic lesions radicular cysts were most prevalent with 47.58%, followed by odontogenic keratocyst 11.75%, mucocele 11.67%, dentigerous cyst 10.14% and unclassifiable odontogenic cysts 9.09% were encountered apart from few cases of other cystic lesions . Conclusions:. The present study provides a demographic data on a large series of cystic lesions in india showing a varied geographical presentation. As the management of pathologic lesions are often dictated by the diagnosis, the clinicopathologic features are necessary for accurate diagnosis and also for differentiating aggressive cystic lesions.