Dystrophic calcification in calcifying epithelial odontogenic tumor: an X-ray diffraction and electron spin resonance study.

X-ray diffraction and electron spin resonance (ESR) analyses were conducted on calcifying epithelial odontogenic tumor (CEOT) associated with abundant calcification in order to compare its mineral structure with that of surrounding cortical bone. The material under investigation was removed from the canine-premolar region of the left maxilla of a 39-year-old woman. The principal findings were that the mineral phase of CEOT consists of apatite crystals and that the crystallinity of the crystals is higher than that of bone apatite. ESR spectra of CEOT are similar to those of bone sample. Quantitative ESR analysis indicates that CEOT shows a higher crystallinity coefficient -- defined by Ostrowski et al. (1972, 1974) as the ratio of spin concentration to the ash content of the sample -- than bone. Based on the data, it can be concluded that the calcification in CEOT has a higher crystalline structure than the cortical bone.