Radiographic Interpretation between Periapical Cysts and Periapical Granuloma-A Diagnostic Tool

Periapical radiolucencies are the commonest radiographic findings for dental practioner's. The commonest cause of periapical cysts and periapical granulomas are well known. This article is a review of studies published on the above mentioned topic. Studies have been reported on radiographic lesion sizes of periapical lesions. However none have been reported on prevalence of subjective radiographic features in these lesions except for the early assumption that a periapical cyst usually exhibits a radiopaque cortex. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the prevalence of several subjective radiographic features of periapical cysts and granulomas in the hope to identify features that maybe suggestive of either diagnosis. The conclusion of various studies came into a nutshell as that a regular (circular or semi-circular) radiographic outline is likely to be a periapical cyst while an irregular radiographic outline is not indicative of either a cyst or a granuloma.