Canine acanthomatous epulis. The only common spontaneous ameloblastoma in animals.

This article describes the acanthomatous epulis in dogs, a quite common lesion that appears to be the counterpart of human ameloblastoma. Histologically, it resembles closely the acanthomatous pattern of human ameloblastoma and, like ameloblastomas in human beings, it infiltrates cancellous bone; moreover, it has no tendency to metastasize. Veterinarians have sometimes treated the acanthomatous epulis with therapeutic irradiation, providing one example when this tumor served as an animal model for human ameloblastoma. Although this treatment has cured some animals, others have developed postirradiation malignancies.