Dental abnormalities associated with familial expansile osteolysis: a clinical and radiographic study.

Familial expansile osteolysis is a rare and possibly unique form of hereditary bone dysplasia with dental manifestations that has affected 42 members of a Northern Ireland family for five generations. Twenty-seven family members, aged 3 to 60 years, were examined clinically and radiographically, and it was found that cervical and/or apical root resorption is an early manifestation of the dysplasia. Of the 20 family members with skeletal manifestations of familial expansile osteolysis, 16 showed root resorption. Root resorption may therefore be a good prognosticator for later bone involvement.