A case of benign osteoblastoma of the mandible

Benign osteoblastoma is an uncommon benign bone neoplasm. It was described independently but about same time in 1956 by Jaffe and Lichtenstein. The most frequently affected sites are the vertebrae and the long bones, but rarely jaw bones.We experienced a large benign osteoblastoma in the left mandible of a six year old female. Radiographs showed the tumor extended from the right second deciduous tooth area to the left first molar area. Hemimandiblectomy was selected as the most suitable treatment and the operation was performed successfully under hypotensive general anesthesia without blood transfusion, because the parents of the patient were Jehovah's Witnesses and persistently rejected blood transfusion. On the basis of this experience, the discussion of the medico-legal problems in the management of Jehovah's Witness patients was added in this paper.