Differences in in vitro growth of epithelium from inflammatory and developmental odontogenic cysts.

Ninety-three odontogenic cysts, 42 of inflammatory and 51 of developmental origin, were grown in vitro from explants and/or cell suspensions. There was little difference in the success rate of culturing epithelium from explants of dentigerous cysts (N = 28) or odontogenic keratocysts (N = 23) (approximately 75% and 87%, respectively) and the dentigerous cyst grew particularly well from suspensions (N = 11) (91%) compared with the keratocyst (N = 19) (58%). Epithelium from developmental odontogenic cysts grew much better in vitro than did cysts of inflammatory origin (56 to 58% from explants and 19 to 25% from suspension). From this work there is little evidence to support previous statements that the dentigerous cyst cannot be grown from explants, or that the odontogenic keratocyst has 'aggressive' growth characteristics.