Burkitt's lymphoma involving the mandible: report of a case and review of Japanese cases.

A Japanese case of Burkitt's lymphoma is presented. The intraoral and panoramic images showed alveolar bone destruction with an infiltrative border, displacement of lower molars, root resorption, and loss of lamina dura and the follicular cortex of a developing tooth, similar to descriptions in previous reports. Computed tomography revealed that a primary lesion occupied the mandible and extended to the muscles of facial expression and to the sublingual and submandibular spaces. Another soft tissue mass was evident in the contralateral parapharyngeal space. Results of a survey of the Japanese literature are also presented; they indicate differences in the clinical features between Japanese cases and African and American cases of Burkitt's lymphoma.