Facts and Hypothesis on Osteolytic Lesions Related to Normal and Tumoral Epithelial Dental Cell Differentiation

Publisher Summary This chapter presents bone osteolysis associated with tumoral and cystic odontogenic lesions. It studies squamous cell carcinomas which constitute more than 90% of the malignant tumors in the oral cavity and oropharynx. Indeed, the related physiopathological pathways of epithelial cell transformation in relation to bone microenvironment are non-specific. Odontogenic epithelial tumors and cysts regarding their specificity and aggressivity on the bone structure are studied here. They grow in the jaw by active bone resorption. They can also expand in the surrounding tissues (masseterian muscles, infratemporalis fossa, orbital structures, the skull basis) and generate metastasis in distant organs such as the lung or liver. Consequently, they may result in the death of the patient. Therefore, a pluridisciplinary approach of these odontogenic tumors is essential, involving odontology, maxillofacial surgery, neurosurgery, ophthalmology, histopathology, molecular biology, genetics and medical oncology. Such a transversal approach is overviewed in this chapter.