lateral periodontal cyst

The lateral periodontal cyst is a small cavity that lies in the jaw bone between the roots of the teeth, not at the root tip but more close to the tooth crown, probably arising from the rests of Malassez .

The neighbouring teeth are usually normal, without tooth decay or pulp necrosis as is the case with the radicular cyst. The lateral periodontal cyst is lined by a thin, non-keratinizing squamous or cuboidal epithelium with focal, plaque-like thickenings that consist of clear cells that may contain glycogen.

Rarely, cysts with this typical epithelial lining including the plaques are large and multilocular and not only confined to the jaw bone surrounding the teeth but, in contrast, occupying major parts of the jaw bone; this variant is known as a botryoid odontogenic cyst, a lesion that may behave aggressively, as exemplified by recurrence.

An epithelial lining containing plaques may also occur in the glandular odontogenic cyst, but then as part of a much more complicated epithelial lining.

So there are no real differential diagnostic alternatives for the lateral periodontal cyst and its large multilocular variant, the botryoid odontogenic cyst.