Central salivary gland tumors of jaws.

Nine cases of central salivary gland tumors of the jaws were seen during the period 1962-1968. Four patients were in the sixth decade; they all presented with swelling of one of the jaws. Pain was unusual. X-ray of the mandible revealed either a diffuse rarefaction or a multiloculated cystic appearance. Four patients had a cylindroma, 3 had mucoepidermoid carcinoma, and 2 had an adenocarcinoma. Four patients had been treated earlier by local excision or radiotherapy, and, in each case, further progress of disease was slow. However, the overall cure rate has been low, as has been described in the literature. These tumors have a clinical course which is distinct from the course of other common jaw tumors, viz. adamantinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Because of this and their frequency they merit a separate identity in the classification of jaw tumors,