Tumors, cysts and allied lesions of the jaws and oral mucosa in Lagos, Nigeria, 1969-74.

Tumors, tumor-like lesions and cysts of the oral cavity and jaw bones seen over a 5-year period, 1969-1974, in the Department of Oral Surgery and Pathology, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria, are reviewed using the World Health Organization's guidelines for histologic classifications. The histopathologic distribution of the 286 lesions seen over this period was as follows: tumors of non-odontogenic tissues, 180 cases (62.9%); tumors of odontogenic tissue, 37 cases (12.9%); cysts and periapical granulomas, 67 cases (23.4%) and tumors of debatable odontogenic origin, two cases (0.8%). On the strength of available evidence, this report does not share the view that jaw tumors are more common among Africans; instead, the report's conclusion agrees with the "harvesting" theory: that jaw tumors, which are generally slow-growing, painless and non life-threatening, are "showing up" more at treatment centres throughout Africa, thus giving a clinician the chance to see many cases of jaw lesions over a relatively short time.