Ameloblastoma is a benign neoplasm derived from residual epithelial components of tooth development. Ameloblastomas have a high recurrence rate if they are not widely and carefully excised. Not all lesions with histologic features of ameloblastoma have the same potential for destruction, recurrence, and even metastasis. For management purposes, not all ameloblastomas require the same surgical treatment; however, a correlation of the clinical, radiographic, and histologic features of each individually encountered lesion is required to determined the clinical subtype. The aim of this study is to estimate the rate as well as the duration for recurrence of a group patient with ameloblastoma in a teaching hospital of southern Taiwan.
Methods : A total of patients (72 male; 41 female) between the first of January, 1991 and the end of December, 2005 with histopathological diagnosis of ameloblastoma were included in the present study.
Results : The average age of initial surgical treatment, as well as entry into the study, was 36.31 years (range 83–8 years). There is not significant difference between sex in occurrence of ameloblastoma ( p = 0.0633). There is significant difference between operation in occurrence of ameloblastoma ( p = 0.0004), histological diagnosis ( p = 0.0458) and location ( p = 0.0009).