Mandibular ramus-related Stafne's bone cavity

Abstract

Mandibular bone depressions located on the lingual/buccal aspect of the mandibular ramus are the rarest variants of the so-called Stafne's bone cavities, or major salivary gland-related depressions, with only 17 cases reported in the literature including both clinical cases and archaeological specimens. We report the case of a 14-year-old male patient who sought clinical assistance complaining of a hard expansion on the lower left premolar-molar region. Apart from a unilocular radiolucent lesion between the lower left second premolar and first molar, a panoramic radiograph showed another radiolucent lesion located in the right mandibular ramus, at the level of the mandibular foramen. Computed tomography (CT) revealed an expansile lesion in the left mandibular body, later diagnosed as a simple bone cyst through surgical exploration. The three-dimensional CT volume rendering reconstructed image showed that the second lesion, located on the lingual aspect of the ascending ramus, was an actual cortical bone defect, which was diagnosed as a mandibular ramus-related Stafne's bone cavity. Considering the young age of the patient, the size of the defect, the recognizedly slow development of mandibular bone defects and, above all, the location of the bone defect under discussion, we believe it to have a congenital rather than a developmental origin (i.e. it was caused by a focal failure during intramembranous ossification of the mandible). If this is the case, mandibular bone depressions should not be seen exclusively as salivary gland-related bone defects.