Residual and inflammatory radicular cysts. Clinical and pathological aspects of 2 cases.

Inflammatory odontogenic cysts include radicular cysts and its etiological variance, residual cysts. Among these lesions, the radicular cyst is the most frequent. It is caused by the growth of remnants of Malassez cells involved in the development of the dental organ. Clinically, radicular cysts are difficult to diagnose. Histologic diagnosis is of primary importance in order to definitely discriminate the different kinds of periapical lesions. In this paper, the clinical, radiographic, etio-physio-pathological and microscopic features of these pathological formations are described. A case of a large radicular cyst and a case of residual cyst are reported and the surgical treatment and histologic differential diagnosis are presented.