Association of lateral canals with non inflammatory jaw swellings – A study with stereomicroscope

Inflammatory jaw swellings such as periapical abscess, granuloma and periodontal lesions are very frequently seen in jaws. One of the causes of such lesions is the presence of lateral canals. In contrast non inflammatory jaw swellings such as odontogenic cyst tumors, benign and malignant neoplasms of jaws are caused by various genetic alterations of cells but only in selected population. The cause for such genetic alterations within cells, present in periodontium, is still not yet completely understood. Additionally the relationship of lateral canals and various genetic alterations present in the neoplasms have not been yet established. Therefore this preliminary study was conducted to evaluate the lateral canalson extracted teeth from resected specimens under stereomicroscope using clearing technique and to establish a possible correlation of lateral canals with such neoplastic lesions of jaws.