Benign fibro-osseous lesion of the mandible in a Middle Bronze Age skeleton from Southern Russia.

A discrete dysplastic lesion of the mandible found in a skeleton of a young adult male of the Middle Bronze Age in the Northern Caucasus/Russia is described. The periapical lesion of the right lower canine alveolus was examined by digital microscopy, plain radiology, and plain and polarizing microscopy. Its macroscopic, radiologic and microscopic characteristics are discussed in reference to different fibro-osseous lesions arising from the odontogenic apparatus and maxillofacial skeleton. Periapical osseous dysplasia was considered to be the most likely diagnosis.

A historical case of an ameloblastoma, from southern Italy.

Jawbones are susceptible to various tumours, some of which originate from dental structures. Here we describe a case of a tumour in a mandible of an old man that was discovered during an archaeological excavation in southern Italy (Torrecuso; 17th-19th centuries). The right mandibular branch presents an extended, multilocular lesion. X-ray analysis shows erosion of the cortical bone layers and the thin trabeculae that circumscribe the lobular areas. Macroscopic and radiological aspects of the mandibular lesion are consistent with an ameloblastoma. This diagnosis is supported by comparative morphological and radiological analyses of the sample from Torrecuso with modern cases. This is a common tumour type reported in the medical literature, which is characterised by a multilocular lesion usually at the branch of the mandible. However, cases of ameloblastoma are not common in archaeological and anthropological reviews. Cases of amleoblastoma were described for two adult female individuals discovered in South America (550-850 CE) and an adult male discovered in Spain (5th-11th centuries CE). The most ancient case comes from the Samnitic archaeological site of Opi (central Italy; 6th-5th centuries BCE). The present case is the second one diagnosed in ancient human remains from Italian archaeological contexts.

Homo neanderthalensis; first documented benign intraosseous tumor in maxillofacial skeleton.

This report deals with the first benign intraosseous tumor of the maxillofacial skeleton ever documented in a species of the Homo genus, to our knowledge. The lower jaw, which belonged to a representative of Homo neanderthalensis, indicated that expansive processes with bone remodeling were already present in ancient times, showing no difference with similar disease patterns found daily in modern Homo sapiens.

Reconstrucción mandibular: pasado, presente y futuro / Mandibular reconstruction: past, present and future

La reconstrucción mandibular continua siendo uno de los grandes retos para el cirujano de cabeza.y cuello. Presentamos en este trabajo una revisión de los métodos empleados en nuestro Servicio en los últimos quince años en la reconstrucción mandibular, sus ventajas, inconvenientes y los éxitos de cada técnica. Revisamos el colgajo osteomiocutáneo trapecial como colgajo pediculado regional, las indicaciones actuales de los colgajos microquirúrgicos, peroné, cresta ilíaca y escapular, sin hacer una descripción exhaustiva de los mismos sino haciendo hincapié en las indicaciones, las controversias y nuestros propios resultados en cada colgajo en la última década. Exponemos unas guías clínicas para el estudio de cada defecto que nos ayuden a la selección de uno u otro colgajo. La superioridad de la reconstrucción primaria y de los colgajos microquirúrgicos, sobre los métodos tradicionales, unidos a los implantes osteointegrados nos ha permitido proporcionar una adecuada calidad de vida (estética y función) a los pacientes mandibulectomizados (AU)

[Resection prosthetics for free bone transplantation. Prerequisites for establishing a bone transplantation concept of the mandible]. / Von der Resektionsprothetik zur freien Knochenplastik. Voraussetzungen zur Schaffung eines Knochen-Transplantationskonzeptes am Unterkiefer.

The present paper examines the development of dental and surgical methods for the reconstruction of bone defects in the lower jaw. Starting with the resection-prosthesis we highlight important stages of bone transplantation in the lower jaw. Until 1914, actually no concept existed for reconstruction of continuity in the lower jaw. Only when dentists and surgeons started working together in the First World War, a bone-transplantation concept for the lower jaw could be elaborated.