A postoperative maxillary cyst (POMC) is an epithelium-lined cyst that can develop following surgery or trauma in the maxillary antral region. This condition arises from the entrapment of the sinonasal mucosa in the maxilla, and rarely in the mandible, due to trauma or instrumentation near the maxillary sinus. Literature indicates that POMCs, or surgical ciliated cysts, can appear as delayed complications from five months to 56 years after trauma or surgical procedures in the sinus area. Despite its potential for aggressive local destruction, it often presents incidentally with minimal symptoms. This clinical case report describes the occurrence of such a cyst in a 30-year-old male and discusses the diagnosis and management of this rare pathology.

Florid cemento-osseous dysplasia (FCOD) can rarely be associated with bone lesions, including simple bone cysts (SBCs). Only a few cases showing the co-occurrence of these two distinct entities have been reported in the literature. This article reports two new cases of SBCs within FCOD. The first case involves a 37-year-old Black female with a large radiolucent lesion around the apex of the right third mandibular molar, accompanied by multiple cemento-osseous lesions around the mandibular teeth. Surgical exploration revealed an empty bone cavity, confirming the diagnosis of an SBC. Curettage of the bone walls was performed to stimulate healing, with promising results observed at the nine-month follow-up. The second case concerns a 44-year-old Black female presenting with a radiolucent lesion at the site of extraction of the left third mandibular molar and a slightly painful radiolucent/radio-opaque lesion in the apical region of the right first mandibular molar. Surgical exploration confirmed an SBC in the region of the left third mandibular molar and a bone biopsy was made. Histopathological analysis confirmed FCOD. Curettage of the bone wall was again used to promote healing through increased bleeding. At the 30-month follow-up, new dysplastic lesions had appeared, the initial SBC had healed completely, and a new SBC seemed to have developed in the apical region of the left second mandibular premolar. These cases highlight the importance of considering SBCs in the differential diagnosis of well-defined radiolucent lesions and demonstrate that surgical intervention for SBC-associated FCOD can yield favorable outcomes. From these cases, we learn the critical need for accurate diagnosis to avoid unnecessary treatments and the value of regular follow-up to monitor for recurrence or new lesions.

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is crucial for protein synthesis, transport, and folding, as well as calcium storage, lipid and steroid synthesis, and carbohydrate metabolism. Endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) occurs when misfolded or unfolded proteins accumulate in the ER lumen due to increased protein secretion or impaired folding. While the role of ERS in disease pathogenesis has been widely studied, most research has focused on extraoral diseases, leaving the role of ERS in intraoral diseases unclear. This review examines the role of ERS in oral diseases and oral fibrosis pathogenesis. A systematic search of literature through July 2023 was conducted in the MEDLINE database (via PubMed) using specific terms related to ERS, oral diseases, and fibrosis. The findings were summarized in both table and narrative form. Emerging evidence indicates that ERS significantly contributes to the pathogenesis of oral diseases and fibrosis. ERS-induced dysregulation of protein folding and the unfolded protein response can lead to cellular dysfunction and inflammation in oral tissues. Understanding the relationship between ERS and oral disease pathogenesis could offer new therapeutic targets for managing oral health and fibrosis-related complications.

Clinical decision-making and biomedical research heavily rely on imaging techniques to visualize tissue morphology. To examine tissues in detail, it is necessary to use special histochemical stains to enhance contrast. This meta-analysis aimed to assess the sensitivity and specificity of these stains in diagnosing oral pathologic specimens. We conducted a search in 8 databases, including EMBASE, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest, Ovid, Cinahl, and Cochrane, up to June 2022. Of 87,393 studies, 41 articles were selected for inclusion in our study. The results revealed that the specificity and sensitivity of the special histochemical stains were 86% with confidence interval (CI) 95%: 80%-90% and 83% with CI 95%: 75%-89%, respectively. Among the stains evaluated, toluidine blue, Papanicolaou, silver stain, Giemsa, Gram, feulgen, and periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) were the most frequently used for the detection of malignancy, premalignant lesions, dysplasia, and candidiasis. The specificity and sensitivity of each stain were analyzed individually, considering the type of specimen. Toluidine blue was the most commonly utilized special histochemical stain, particularly effective, for detecting malignancy, with a specificity of 97% with CI 95%: 88%-99% and sensitivity of 76% with CI 95%: 56%-89%. In conclusion, special histochemical stains are effective in diagnosing oral lesions, exhibiting reasonable specificity and sensitivity, especially in cases of premalignant and malignant lesions. Based on the reviewed articles in our study, the silver stain was identified as highly sensitive, while Giemsa and Papanicolaou stain exhibited the highest specificity.

Ectomesenchymal chondromyxoid tumor (ECT) is a rare soft tissue tumor with peculiar histogenesis, exhibiting a predilection for the dorsum of the tongue. Molecular evidence suggests that it may originate from the migration of ectomesenchymal pluripotent cells from the neural crest to the tongue, where these cells may eventually proliferate and undergo myxoid and chondroid differentiation. This article illustrates a case of a 16-year-old female patient who presented with a nodule on the dorsum of her tongue, which had been present for four years. Surgical excision was performed, and histopathological analysis revealed a myxoid neoplasia composed of polygonal and spindle cells within a loose stroma containing chondroid areas. Tumor cells were positive for GFAP and S-100 proteins on immunohistochemical study, confirming the diagnosis of ECT. After a 5-year follow-up, the patient has shown no evidence of recurrence. Although rare, ECT can be diagnosed straightforwardly due to its distinctive clinical, histopathological, and immunohistochemical features. Clinicians and pathologists should become familiar with this tumor in order to avoid misdiagnosis.

BACKGROUND: Dentigerous cysts, deemed of developmental origin, are benign odontogenic cysts characterized by a gradual growth rate. Their occurrence is twice as prevalent in men compared to women. These cysts are recognized as the most frequent developmental cysts affecting the jaws, with a typical manifestation in individuals aged 20 to 40, while infrequently identified in young children. Notably, dentigerous cysts have the potential to attain significant dimensions, resulting in painless enlargement of the jaw and subsequent deformation.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the clinicopathological features and management of ten years of experience with dentigerous cysts.
METHODS: A challenging cases were reported from reviewed records of the patients who were treated by the surgical intervention of various dentigerous cysts throughout the period of ten years, 2012-2022 and only histologically confirmed cases were selected, at Ramadi Teaching Hospital in addition to Rashid, Razi, Zuhur Private Hospitals and private clinics in Iraq.
RESULTS: 76 patients were included in this clinicopathological research. The highest age group affected was ≤ 18 years (68.4%), 54% were male, the mandible was more affected (63.1%) than the maxilla (36.9%). Marsupialization was applied to 30.3% of the cases, while enucleation was carried out in 69.7%.
CONCLUSIONS: The significance of meticulous examination of radiographs and the consequences associated with undetected and untreated ailments is affirmed by this case study. A comprehensive understanding of oral pathology serves as a valuable resource for dentists, facilitating accurate diagnosis, appropriate referrals, and the provision of anticipatory guidance to patients striving to achieve optimal oral health across various age groups.

BACKGROUND: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide. A delay in the diagnosis of OSCC can have a drastic impact on management and patient outcomes. One of the most crucial elements in oral management is the timely histopathological final diagnosis. Turnaround time (TAT) is regarded as the most important component of the quality performance evaluation. Many labs have struggled to improve their TATs despite advancements in computerization, transport systems, and analytical technologies.  Aim: This study aimed to assess the TAT of OSCC cases, assess the mean TAT period, evaluate any TAT delays, and explore the reasons behind the TAT delays.  Materials and methods: OSCC reports in Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Chennai, for one year from January 1, 2022, to December 31, 2022, were retrieved from the Dental Information Archival Software (DIAS), and the mean TAT was noted. Further, the number of cases with delay in TAT was also observed, and the reason for their delay was listed. Descriptive statistics and graphical representation were performed utilizing IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, V. 23.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). One-way ANOVA was performed with a significance set at a p-value less than 0.05.
RESULTS: 230 OSCC cases were retrieved and included in the TAT evaluation for this study. Among 230 cases, 161 (70%) were incisional and 69 (30%) were excisional biopsies. Only seven (4%) incisional cases and seven (10%) excisional biopsies showed a delay in TAT. The most common reason for the delay in TAT was the requirement for deeper sections and decalcification of bone specimens. Out of 161 incisional cases, only 48 (29%) have undergone excision and further treatment. Twenty-one out of 69 (30%) excisional cases were found to be referral cases from other private institutions. The overall average TAT for 12 months was 3.24 ± 0.41 days for incisional biopsies and 11.88 ± 2.07 days for excisional biopsies. One-way ANOVA revealed a statistically significant p-value of less than 0.00001.
CONCLUSIONS: Our study sheds light on specific challenges in TAT delay and opportunities for the improvement of TAT. This can result in faster TAT of OSCC reports, further improve patient care, and enable prompt treatment. This study quantified the TAT for OSCC cases and identified critical areas for process improvement. The findings can inform strategies to streamline diagnostic workflows, reduce delays, and ultimately improve the timely delivery of care to patients with OSCC.

BACKGROUND:  Oral tumors necessitate a dependable computer-assisted pathological diagnosis system considering their rarity and diversity. A content-based image retrieval (CBIR) system using deep neural networks has been successfully devised for digital pathology. No CBIR system for oral pathology has been investigated because of the lack of an extensive image database and feature extractors tailored to oral pathology.
METHODS: This study uses a large CBIR database constructed from 30 categories of oral tumors to compare deep learning methods as feature extractors.
RESULTS: The highest average area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was achieved by models trained on database images using self-supervised learning (SSL) methods (0.900 with SimCLR and 0.897 with TiCo). The generalizability of the models was validated using query images from the same cases taken with smartphones. When smartphone images were tested as queries, both models yielded the highest mean AUC (0.871 with SimCLR and 0.857 with TiCo). We ensured the retrieved image result would be easily observed by evaluating the top 10 mean accuracies and checking for an exact diagnostic category and its differential diagnostic categories.
CONCLUSIONS: Training deep learning models with SSL methods using image data specific to the target site is beneficial for CBIR tasks in oral tumor histology to obtain histologically meaningful results and high performance. This result provides insight into the effective development of a CBIR system to help improve the accuracy and speed of histopathology diagnosis and advance oral tumor research in the future.

This paper examines the clinical differentiation of pigmented lesions in the oral mucosa, which poses significant diagnostic challenges across dental and medical disciplines due to their spectrum from benign to potentially malignant conditions. Through a literature review and analysis of clinical cases, this study clarifies current diagnostic methodologies, with an emphasis on differential diagnosis, to provide a practical guide for clinicians. The classification of pigmented lesions, such as endogenous, focal melanocytic, and multifocal pigmentation, based on clinical and histological features, highlights the necessity for a structured and informed approach. A retrospective examination of cases from our oral medicine and pathology clinic, coupled with analysis of photographic and histological records, aids in classifying these lesions. This fosters a better understanding and promotes informed discussions among clinicians, ultimately aiming to enhance early and precise diagnosis, thus improving patient management and outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Biosurfactants are amphiphilic compounds produced by various microorganisms. Current research evaluates diverse types of biosurfactants against a range of oral pathogens.
OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aims to explore the potential of microbial-derived biosurfactants for oral applications.
METHODS: A systematic literature search was performed utilizing PubMed-MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science databases with designated keywords. The results were registered in the PROSPERO database and conducted following the PRISMA checklist. Criteria for eligibility, guided by the PICOS framework, were established for both inclusion and exclusion criteria. The QUIN tool was used to assess the bias risk for in vitro dentistry studies.
RESULTS: Among the initial 357 findings, ten studies were selected for further analysis. The outcomes of this systematic review reveal that both crude and purified forms of biosurfactants exhibit antimicrobial and antibiofilm properties against various oral pathogens. Noteworthy applications of biosurfactants in oral products include mouthwash, toothpaste, and implant coating.
CONCLUSIONS: Biosurfactants have garnered considerable interest and demonstrated their potential for application in oral health. This is attributed to their surface-active properties, antiadhesive activity, biodegradability, and antimicrobial effectiveness against a variety of oral microorganisms, including bacteria and fungi.