Features
- Idiopathic, chronic, slowly progressive disease of bone in the elderly.
- Abnormal resorption and deposition of bone, leading eventually to sclerosis and expansion of the effected bone.
- The jaws are involved in approximately 20% of the cases.
- It can be divided into three stages:
- 1st stage – Bone resorption: Generally radiolucency/osteoporosis)
- 2nd stage – Ostoblastic repair (mixed radiolucency/radiopacity)
- 3rd stage – Sclerosing phase (haphazard deposition of sclerotic bone, cotton wool appearance.
- Other radiographic features: loss of lamina dura and obliteration of the periapical ligament spaces, hypercementosis, external root resorption.