Case reporting in oral and maxillofacial pathology: Requisite among rare diseases

Oral and maxillofacial pathology is replete with rare diseases that by their very nature, are difficult to study. Adequately powered, randomized controlled trials cannot be performed when cases are rare and spread across a large geographic area among numerous institutions. For example, there are approximately 500 ameloblastoma tumors diagnosed in the United States each year and these necessarily represent a heterogenous group with maxillary, mandibular, anterior/posterior, old and young all part of this group. To detect a treatment outcome difference of 5% at 80% power would require a sample size of over 3000 Ameloblastoma tumors. The specific aim of this manuscript is to highlight several of these rare diseases and the case reports that have contributed to our evolving knowledge to emphasize the significance of case reporting in oral and maxillofacial pathology.