Tooth mandible/maxilla

One of the earliest applications of carbon as an implant material was in restorative dentistry. The first devices were bulky posts fabricated from glassy carbon that were implanted in the maxilla or mandible to serve as artificial tooth roots. Because of the inherent lack of strength of glassy carbon, they were bulky and poorly accepted. As a further complication, the stainless steel post on which a crown was cemented formed a galvanic couple in vivo leading to complications caused by accelerated corrosion of the stainless steel. 

Keratocysts are primarily a flaw in the development of the dental lamina. Therefore, they are not located near the crown of the tooth, like follicular cysts, but rather between the roots. They can spread widely and tend to recur. Serial examinations are, therefore, advisable. More often they arise in the mandible than in the maxilla. They frequently press on the roots of other teeth and lead to root resorption. Their edges are smooth or undulant. They occur most frequently in the 3rd and 4th decades, similar to ameloblastoma (Fig. 13.6). 

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