Paget's disease of the Mandible.

Abstract

Paget's disease is a chronic disease of the skeleton. The cause is unknown, although some consider it to be a breakdown of the normal mechanism of creeping replacement to which the bone is constantly subjected. The case that we are presenting is of interest because of its rarity and because the disease affected the mandible first. In the dental literature we found that of the 138 patients with generalized Paget’s disease seen by Stafne and Austin at the Mayo Clinic, maxillary involvement occurred in twenty and only three patients had mandibular involvement. Seldin reported one case of Paget’s disease affecting the mandible, and Clompus reported another with evidence of it in both legs and feet. Of the fifteen cases presented by Cooke only three had mandibular involvement.