Approach and conservative surgical treatment of jaw ameloblastoma: case report

Ameloblastoma is a benign neoplasm, originated from the odontogenic epithelium. It preferentially affects the mandible and due to its infiltrative growth pattern, it has a tendency to local recurrence. Treatment varies based on clinical, histological and radiographic characteristics. The aggressive treatment, such as marginal resection, has shown good results, however, it also has greater morbidity. Conservative treatments, such as decompression, enucleation and curettage, can also be used, with specific indications, and when carefully performed, it has a good prognosis. Thus, the objective of this work is to describe a case of mandibular ameloblastoma, treated in a more conservative way. Male patient, 53 years old, presented an increase in volume in the anterior region of the mandible. The clinical and radiographic characteristics suggested that it was a cystic lesion, so decompression and incisional biopsy were performed, the diagnosis of which was cystic ameloblastoma. The decompression device was maintained until bone neoformation was no longer observed, with conservative marginal resection being performed, followed by peripheral ostectomy.