Benign fibro-osseous lesion of the mandible in a Middle Bronze Age skeleton from Southern Russia.

A discrete dysplastic lesion of the mandible found in a skeleton of a young adult male of the Middle Bronze Age in the Northern Caucasus/Russia is described. The periapical lesion of the right lower canine alveolus was examined by digital microscopy, plain radiology, and plain and polarizing microscopy. Its macroscopic, radiologic and microscopic characteristics are discussed in reference to different fibro-osseous lesions arising from the odontogenic apparatus and maxillofacial skeleton. Periapical osseous dysplasia was considered to be the most likely diagnosis.

Familial gigantiform cementoma with brittle bone disease, pathologic fractures, and osteosarcoma: a possible explanation of an ancient mystery.

We describe four individuals of an African-American family with a predominantly diaphyseal bone disease associated with familial gigantiform cementoma (FGC), a disorder typically seen in Caucasians. The mother and her children presented with deformities of the jaws, abnormalities of the long bones, and pre-pubertal pathologic fractures. The index patient carried the diagnosis of osteosarcoma (OS). In addition, we provide a possible explanation for the jaw abnormalities of King Tutankhamen's father in the 18th dynasty in Egypt around 1350 BC.