Ossifying Fibroma-one disease or six? An analysis of 39 fibro-osseous lesions of the jaws.

Thirty-nine cases of benign fibro-osseous lesions of the jaws of which ten cases were reported as central ossifying fibromata are reviewed. Such lesions usually present in young adults with the exception of classical fibrous dysplasia which is normally first diagnosed in the second decade of life. All the lesions appear to be more common in females and with the exception of the peripheral ossifying fibroma show a prediliction for the mandible. It is argued that as there is no absolute histological distinction between bone and cementum and as cementum-like areas of calcification are seen in fibro-osseous lesions of all membrane bones the distinction between ossifying and cementifying lesions should be discontinued. It is also suggested that the benign fibro-osseous jaw lesions may represent different stages in the evolution of a single disease process.