Purpose: To assess epidemiological, clinical, and radiographic characteristics of odontogenic cysts (OCs) in a South Brazilian sample and to compare the results with international literature.
Methods: For the main study purposes, biopsy and histopathological records were retrospectively analyzed from December 2006 to December 2018, OC cases were selected, and data about clinical characteristics were evaluated. Further, a literature review was performed for similar studies.
Results: In the main study, the prevalence of OCs was 11.26% (n = 406), the majority of patients was male (56.73%), and the mean age was 39 ± 17.33 years. Radicular cyst was the most common OC (46.06%), followed by the odontogenic keratocyst (15.02%), dentigerous cyst (14.04%), and paradental cyst (13.55%). Inflammatory OCs were more prevalent in the maxilla (54.84%) and developmental cysts in the mandible (69.92%) (p < 0.05). Individuals with inflammatory OCs were usually older (41.0 ± 15.34 years) than the ones with developmental OC (28.0 ± 19.68 years) (p < 0.05). Regarding the literature review, 22 articles were included. Analysis of pooled data showed that global prevalence of OCs was 11.62% (95%CI = 9.97-13.37), from which radicular cyst was the most common (54.26%; 95%CI = 49.30-59.18), followed by dentigerous cyst (22.94%; 95%CI = 19.22-26.89) and odontogenic keratocyst (11.99%; 95%CI = 8.88-15.49). Furthermore, studies from Asia (72.40%; 95%CI = 70.30-74.40) and South America (68.48%; 95%CI = 64.07-72.72) presented the highest frequencies of inflammatory OCs.
Conclusion: The main study showed that the prevalence of OCs was 11.26%, which corroborates with international literature. Considering geographic variability of OC distribution, public health authorities and researchers could use these data for the development of focused prevention interventions, especially with regard to inflammatory OCs.
Keywords: Epidemiology; Odontogenic cyst; Oral pathology; Prevalence.