Pericoronal follicles revealing unsuspected odontogenic cysts and inflammatory lesions: A retrospective microscopy study.

AIM: This study aimed to analyze the prevalence of diseases related to pericoronal follicles, and assess the rate of concordance between clinical and histopathological diagnoses. METHODS: Histologically, we analyzed 1,298 tissue samples surrounding the crowns of teeth that were diagnosed clinically as pericoronal follicles. In addition, we determined associations among histopathological diagnosis, patients' age and sex, tissue site, presence of nests of odontogenic epithelium, presence of reduced enamel epithelium, and presence of diffuse inflammation. RESULTS: Odontogenic pathologies were present in 35% of the samples, and rate of concordance between clinical and histopathological diagnoses was 0.54. Probability of developing odontogenic pathologies was high in the mandibular molars (odds ratio: 2.13) and in the tissues with odontogenic epithelial remnants (odds ratio: 1.2), reduced enamel epithelium (odds ratio: 1.3), and diffuse inflammation. (odds ratio: 10.5). CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study highlight the clinical relevance of histopathological examination of the pericoronal tissue in unerupted and partially erupted teeth for early diagnosis of pathologies because this study demonstrated the odontogenic cysts and inflammatory lesions in tissues clinically diagnosed as pericoronal follicles.

Carcinoma cuniculatum in the tongue of a patient with oral lichen planus: Unusual presentation.

Carcinoma cuniculatum (CC) is a rare variant of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Only 27 cases have been published in English. A 50-year-old male, who presented a white nodule with erythematous areas, localized in the lateral border of the tongue with 2 months of duration. The patient presents oral lichen planus lesions on the tongue, commissure, and buccal mucosa. The microscopy evaluation of the nodular lesion of the tongue revealed a malignant epithelial neoplasia characterized by cuniculatum architecture, similar in appearance to "rabbit burrows" and the final diagnosis was of CC. The management of CC needs cooperation between surgeons and pathologists to establish a correct diagnosis and treatment. CC is a rare entity and must be recognized by oral pathologist so that it is not misdiagnosed as verrucous carcinoma or oral SCC (OSCC). Regarding prognosis, CC must be evaluated and distinguished from other variants of OSCC.