title: Epidemiology of ameloblastomas of the jaws; a report from the Netherlands.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide epidemiological data of ameloblastomas of the jaws in the Netherlands over a 25-year time period (1985-2010) and to compare these data with data from other parts of the world.
  
  
  METHODS
  The data of all patients diagnosed with a primary ameloblastoma of the jaws in the Netherlands in the period 1985-2010 have been retrieved from the nationwide histopathology and cytopathology network and registry in the Netherlands (PALGA). The pathology reports were screened and only those cases were included in which a distinct diagnosis of primary, histopathologically benign, intraosseous ameloblastoma was rendered. The average population in The Netherlands during this period amounted approximately 15 million people.
  
  
  RESULTS
  An annual incidence rate was approximately 1,5 per million population, the male-female ratio being 1.4: 1. The age at the time of diagnosis was 44.1 years. The average age in males was 46.3 years compared to an average age in females of 41.3 years, the difference being significant (p≤ 0.05). The results were compared with those available in only a small number of publications worldwide.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is no strong evidence for significant differences of the true incidence of ameloblastomas worldwide, neither for a gender predilection. The diagnosis is generally made at a somewhat lower age in women; this phenomenon is even much stronger in the Black population, irrespective of gender. No proper explanation for this finding can be provided.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery/Pathology, P.O. Box 7057, 1007 MB Amsterdam, The Netherlands, i.vanderwaal@vumc.nl.
authors.forename: Marjolin A E M
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Oomens
authors.forename: Isaäc
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: van der Waal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000564:Ameloblastoma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007573:Jaw Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology