Adamantinomas are tumors commonly thought to arise in the mandible alone and to be of dental interest only. However, it is now well known that they occur in other bones and often are a problem of the surgeon rather than the dentist. Their appearance in the tibia, ulna, radius, and maxilla is well documented.* The neurosurgeon not infrequently sees them in the pituitary gland14 (craniopharyngioma). But as extraosseous tumors, occurring in soft tissue with the underlying bone normal, they become a clinical oddity. Interest was stimulated in this form by a patient who was recently treated for a huge oral tumor, completely free of bony attachments, which on pathologic examination proved to be an adamantinoma.
Approximately 80% of adamantinomas are found in the mandible, 15% in the maxilla, and the rest scattered through other skeletal or soft part structures. According to Chont,8 Thoma,† and others,‡ adamantinomas may arise