TUMORS OF

JAWS AND ORAL

MUCOSA
• The dentist has a vital role
in the diagnosis and
treatment of these lesions.
Although the dentist
might not see all the types
of bening oral tumors,it is
important to be familiar
about them so as to
manage them whenever
necessary.
• Cancer is a disease involving complex multiple
sequential irreversible dysregulated processes showing
metastasis that results in morbidity and mortality.
Metastasis is a complex biological course that begins
with detachment of tumor cells from the primary
tumor, spreading into the distant tissues and/or organs,
invading through the lymphovascular structures
followed by their survival in the circulation.
Metastatic tumors to the oro-facial region are
uncommon and may occur in the oral soft tissues or
jawbones
• The clinical presentation of metastatic tumors can be variable, which may lead
to erroneous diagnosis or may create diagnostic dilemma. Therefore, they
should be considered in the differential diagnosis of inflammatory and reactive
lesions that are common to the oral region. Most of the literature on oral
metastases involves either single case reports or reviews of these reported cases
from scattered geographical areas.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A BENING AND MALIGNANT
TUMOR?
Bening Tumor Malignant Tumor

Benign Tumor It is a locally controlled growth Malignant Tumor It is an independent

or lesion, generally encapsulated, which does uncoordinated new growth of tissue which is
not produce metastases, and therefore not potentially capable of unlimited proliferation and
endangering life which does not regress after removal of the
stimulus which produced the lesion.
• Benign Tumors of Connective Tissue origin
– Aneurysmal bone cyst. This lesion occurs
in younger patients usually below 20 years
of age. The mandible appears to be more
commonly affected than the maxilla. The
posterior molar-bearing segments of the
maxilla and mandible seem to be more
commonly affected region. n Clinically
these lesions are characterized by a
nonpulsatile swelling of variable duration.
• Benign Tumors of Connective
Tissue origin – Lipoma. It is a
relatively rare intraoral tumor,
although it occurs more
frequently in the subcutaneous
tissues of the neck. It is a
benign, slow growing tumor
composed of mature fat cells.
The cells of lipoma differ
metabolically from normal fat
cells though they are
histologically similar. Lipoma n
Lipomas can be of the
superficial or deep type. n
Those that are deep produce
only a slight surface elevation.
n Treatment of lipoma is
surgical excision.
• Benign Tumors of Connective Tissue
origin - Hemangioma .It is a common
tumor characterized by the
proliferation of blood vessels. It is
often congenital in nature and is not a
true neoplasm but a developmental
anomaly an abnormal proliferation of
tissues of structures native to the part.
• Benign Tumors of Connective
Tissue origin - Lymphangioma . It
is a benign tumor of the lymphatic
vessels. It is present at birth in
most of the cases. It most
commonly occurs in the tongue,
but is also seen in the palate,
buccal mucosa, gingiva and lips.
The superficial lesions are
papillary and slightly red in color,
but the deep lesions appear as
diffuse nodules or masses without
any change in color. Treatment is
by surgical excision for small
lesions and large deeper lesions
are treated by sclerosing agents.
• Benign Tumors of
Connective Tissue origin -
Myxoma . It is the tumor of
the soft tissues and is made
up of tissue resembling
primitive mesenchyme. The
tumor is benign but can
infiltrate into adjacent
tissues. Most of them are
deep seated lesions and are
very rare intraorally.