Benign jaw tumors.

The jaw bones may develop the same types of tumors as the other bones of the body but may also develop tumors arising from the alveolar processes (epulis) and the developing teeth (odontomes). They are usually benign in nature and can affect the functions of mastication, swallowing and cause facial deformity. They make about 3% of all bone tumors with a tendency for a local recurrence if a wide excision is not contemplated at the first attempt. Local destruction caused by the tumor can mimic a malignancy; however with imaging we can get a fair idea about the treatment planning. We present a series of 6 cases of such nature for their variety, diagnostic challenge they posed and different reconstruction methods used for better cosmesis.