Frequency and characteristics of retention cysts in the maxillary sinus in a Turkish patient population

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the frequency and etiology of maxillary sinus retention cysts (RCs) in a Turkish patient population in the Middle Black Sea region by using panoramic radiography. We retrospectively reviewed 9,659 panoramic radiographs that were taken from March 2012 to January 2014. The number, location, and the size of the RCs as well as the age, gender, dental status, and radiographic dental findings of the patients were recorded. Of the 9,659 patients, 158 had RCs with a frequency of 1.6 %. Male patients had significantly more RCs than female patients did (p < 0.001). RCs were mostly seen in patients aged between 30 and 39 years and no significant difference was found between age groups. We detected 169 RCs in the 158 patients. Of these patients, 147 were dentate and 11 were edentulous. Moreover, 39 % of the patients had dental findings in the adjacent teeth to the maxillary sinus. The size of the RCs measured on panoramic radiographs ranged from 0.8 to 9.5 cm2 with a mean of 3.7 cm2. This study shows that the prevalence of RCs is low (1.6 %) and the frequency of RCs diminishes slightly with age. Most of the patients that had RCs were dentate, and dental findings were observed in around 50 % of the patients. Therefore, dental pathology may be considered to be a contributing factor for RCs. According to the findings of our study, the size and prevalence of RCs are not age dependent.