title: Odontogenic tumors in Chile: a study of 362 cases.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Odontogenic tumors are infrequent lesions. Thus, the review of a large number of cases becomes a necessity for both the pathologist and the clinician. Studies on odontogenic tumors have been published in many parts of the world, but there is little information available in the English language literature on the relative frequency of odontogenic tumors in Latin America. The aim of this study was to determine the relative frequency of this heterogeneous group of lesions in a Chilean population, and to compare these data with previous reports.
  
  
  METHODS
  We reviewed the records of 28,041 specimens from 1975 to 2000 in the Oral Pathology Referral Institute (IREPO), and using the criteria for histological typification published by the World Health Organization in 1992, we reclassified the odontogenic tumors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We confirmed a total of 362 odontogenic tumors. The frequency of odontogenic tumors as a percentage of all pathological specimens in our institute was 1.29%. The most frequent histological type was odontomas (44.7%), followed by ameloblastomas (20.4%) and myxomas (8.8%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Odontogenic tumors are uncommon lesions in the Chilean population and malignant odontogenic tumors are very rare. The relative frequency of various types of odontogenic tumors, as well as the age and gender distribution are similar to those reported in the North American series and different from those found in recently published Asian and African series.
authors.affiliation: Oral Pathology Referral Institute, Faculty of Odontology, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Germán
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ochsenius
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ortega
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Godoy
authors.forename: Cristian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Peñafiel
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Escobar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000564:Ameloblastoma / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002677:Chile / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008339:Mandibular Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D008441:Maxillary Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009232:Myxoma / Q000453:epidemiology; D009808:Odontogenic Tumors / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009810:Odontoma / Q000453:epidemiology; D012737:Sex Factors