Torbjørn Stene

Aberrant salivary gland tissue in the anterior mandible.

Salivary gland tissue inclusions in the posterior part of the mandible are not rare. Inclusions in the anterior portion, however, are very unusual, and the case presented here brings the number of reported cases up to a total of seven. The aberrant gland appeared on a panoramic radiograph as a radiolucency judged to be a periapical lesion on the right mandibular second premolar.

Carcinomas of intraoral salivary glands

Of 44 intraoral salivary gland tumours received by the Department of Pathology, Dental Faculty, University of Oslo over the last 20 years, 21 (approx. 48%) were classified as carcinomas. Of these, the adenocarcinomas constituted the largest group, but because some of them bore a certain likeness to adenoid cystic carcinomas and to mucoepidermoid tumours, we believe that transitions exist between these groups of neoplasms. The material is thought to reflect the daily practice of oral surgeons and general dental practitioners, and we think it important to emphasize that approximately every second tumour in this series was malignant.

β-lumicolchicine as a Tool to Elucidate Microtubular Function in Dentinogenesis

β-lumicolchicine, an isomer of colchicine which does not interrupt microtubular function, was given to 8 rats in a dose of 1.5 mg/kg. Four rats served as controls. Histomorphological investigations of odontoblasts and dentin in the maxillary incisors after two weeks revealed no disturbances. This finding, compared with the previously reported effects of colchicine, as well as colcemid, vincristine and vinblastine, indicates dentin production to be dependant on microtubules.