Massive Infected Dentigerous Cyst in a Young Child

Dentigerous cysts are odontogenic cysts that form on the crown of an unerupted or partially erupted tooth. They are specifically anchored to the cementoenamel junction. Dentigerous cysts are known to rarely involve impacted deciduous teeth. Because of this rarity, this article reports a unique case of a five-year-old female patient who developed a dentigerous cyst in relation to a developing permanent left mandibular first molar tooth with its surgical treatment and histopathological features.

Clinicopathological Significance of Cancer Stem Cell Markers (OCT-3/4 and SOX-2) in Oral Submucous Fibrosis and Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) is highly prevalent in South East Asia with higher rates of malignant transformation in Indian subcontinent. Numerous biomarkers are now being studied to predict disease prognosis and detect malignant alterations at an early stage. Patients with clinically and biopsy-proven oral submucous fibrosis and oral squamous cell carcinoma were included in the study as the experimental group, while patients without a tobacco or betel nut habit who had their third molars surgically removed were included as the healthy control group. For the immunohistochemistry (IHC) investigation, 5-μm slices from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue blocks (FFPE) were obtained. Fresh tissues (n = 45) from all three groups were collected and gene expression was studied using relative quantitation-based qPCR. The protein expression of octamer-binding transcription factor 3/4 (OCT 3/4) and sex-determining region Y-box 2 (SOX 2) was evaluated in the experimental group and compared with healthy controls. The IHC results showed a significant correlation with the expression of OCT 3/4 (p value = 0.000; χ2 = 20.244) and SOX 2 (p value = 0.006; χ2 = 10.101) among OSCC and OSMF patients in comparison to healthy controls. Both OCT 3/4 and SOX 2 showed overexpression of four-fold and three-fold in OSMF when compared to OSCC and healthy controls, respectively. This study shows the significant importance of cancer stem cell markers OCT 3/4 and SOX 2 to assess the disease prognosis in OSMF.

Herpes Zoster: A Case Report of a Rare Ramification Leading to Secondary Infection

The herpes virus causes herpes zoster (HZ) (shingles). It develops years later in elderly patients who were affected by the varicella-zoster virus in their childhood. The virus gets reactivated and typically localizes its symptoms to a particular dermatome. If left untreated, it can lead to dental complications, such as osteonecrosis, tooth exfoliation, periodontitis, calcified and devitalized pulps, periapical lesions, and root resorption, in addition to developmental irregularities, such as abnormally short roots and missing teeth. Here, we present the case of a 61-year-old male affected by a rare bacterial superinfection followed by an HZ infection. Our report aims at making clinicians aware of the various potential complications that can develop after an HZ infection.

Tru-cut needle biopsy: A novel approach in the diagnosis of solid oral pathologies

Nowadays, new biopsy techniques such as fine and wide needles are now employed instead of invasive biopsy techniques. Compared to open biopsy, true-cut needle biopsy has a number of advantages. It's quick and simple to do, can be done in an outpatient department, avoids incisions into previously irradiated skin, and has few risks. In order to examine malignant and benign tumours, there had been a debate in the past century on the utilisation and efficiency of tru-cut biopsy over Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and surgical biopsy in solid tumours. A non-odontogenic tumour that occurs in jaws, also classified as a fibro-osseous lesion of the jaw, is Cemento-Ossifying Fibroma. Clinically, these lesions occur as gradually growing, reaching an enormous size if not treated. In this article, a case of cemento-ossifying fibroma noticed in the maxilla with facial swelling is discussed and the diagnosis was done using a tru-cut needle biopsy.

Centromere Protein F (CENPF): A novel marker for salivary gland pathology

Background

Salivary gland tumours are relatively uncommon, and there exists considerable diagnostic difficulty. This is due to individual lesions having diverse histopathological features, presence of number of types and variants, and overlapping histological features in different tumour entities.

Aim

The current study aimed at assessing the expression of centromere protein F (CENPF) in benign and malignant salivary gland tumours and to evaluate the efficacy of CENPF as a proliferative marker to aid in the diagnosis of malignancy so that it will help in surgical pathology practice.

Materials and Methods

The study group involved 20 cases of benign salivary gland tumours, 20 cases of malignant salivary gland tumours, and 10 normal salivary gland tissues. All the cases were subjected to immunohistochemical analysis for CENPF expression and were assessed by two independent observers and further taken up for evaluation.

Statistical Analysis

The results were analysed statistically among different groups using analysis of variance (ANOVA) or Kruskal-Wallis test with Chi-squared test using IBM's Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0.

Results

CENPF expression in normal salivary gland was negative with gradual increase in expression from benign salivary gland tumours to malignant salivary gland tumours. CENPF expression was high in malignant salivary gland tumours.

Conclusion

Findings of the study suggest that CENPF can be regarded as a new cell proliferation marker for malignant salivary gland tumours.