Introduction: Ameloblastomas are benign epithelial odontogenic tumors well known for their capacity to destruct jaws and recur.

Material and methods: During a 13-year period, ameloblastoma cases were analyzed for sex, ethnic origin, age on presentation, clinical signs, radiographic presentation, site distribution, histologic type, treatment and follow-up records.

Results: In this 13-year period, 116 patients were retrieved (corresponding to 239 histological studied samples). The mean age at discovery was 36.4 years. Fifty percent of the patients were European. Sixty percent of the lesions were multilocular radiolucent. Dental root resorption was present in 61% of the patients, with 47% exhibiting multilocular radiolucent lesions. An embedded tooth was found in 21% of cases, involving the third molar in 79% of cases. Half of the patients had a lesion extending from 5 to 13 cm and 10% had lesions larger than 13 cm. Lesions were often mandibular (93%) and follicular (41.2%). Surgery consisted of 82% enucleations and 11% mandibular radical resections with reconstruction. The follow-up was documented for 97% of the patients. Recurrence rate was 44%. More than 2 recurrences occurred in 40% of the patients: 74% with a “follicular” type.

Discussion and conclusion: Our data were compared with previously reported large series. Following and therapeutic management have to take histological follicular type into account. Therapeutic algorithm is suggested giving importance to conservative enucleation. Research offers perspective for understanding epithelial odontogenic tumors and treating them with more efficiency.

Conflict of interest: None declared.