Abstract

APARICIO M, M. Paula; JULIO CIFUENTES, F  and  MARIO REYES, M. Chronic diffuse sclerosing osteomyelitis. Rev Cubana Estomatol [online]. 2008, vol.45, n.3-4, pp. 0-0. ISSN 1561-297X.

Diffuse sclerosing osteomyelitis is considered a chronic primary osteomyelitis consisting in an inflammatory, painful and prolonged process. It only affects the mandible and it is generally unilateral. It involves the basal and alveolar bone and it is located at the level of body, angle, branch and even condyle. The cause is more controversial, since some attribute an infectious origin to it, whereas others consider it as a non-infectious condition resulting from the overloads or associated with SAPHO syndrome (synovitis, acne, pustulosis, hyperostosis and osteitis), but literature is not concluding. Treatment as well as its cause are not totally clear. Different alternatives are described that go from the conservative to the most radical position. The 7-month follow-up and treatment of a female patient suffering from diffuse sclerosing osteomyelitis with approximately18 years of evolution that has been refractory to the conventional therapeutic alternatives is presented.

Keywords : sclerosing osteomyelitis; osteomyelitis; mandible.