CT analysis of the Stafne's bone defects in an archaeological sample from Croatia

In 1942, Edward Stafne first described 35 “ bone cavities” at the angle of the mandible discovered on intraoral dental films. They appeared as unilocular, well-circumscribed, round or eliptical radiolucencies located below the inferior dental canal and between the angle of the mandible and first molar tooth. Usually they were asymptomatic, with a predilection for men between age 50 and 70 years, and mostly unilateral. This latent bone defects are a salivary gland depressions often containing a part of the submandibular gland. Lilly et al. (1965), Johnson (1970), Karmiol M et al. (1968) reported the prevalence of posterior bone lesions between 1 in 250 and 1 in 500 in recent populations, as determined from radiographic studies. The purpose of this paper is to report on two archeologic cases of Stafne’ s defect. Findings were inspected and analyzed using CT-scans. Case 1: The skeletal remains of an adult individual were exhumed from a 4th century necropolis Zmajevac. The skeleton corresponds to a male between 45 and 50 years of age. Case 2: The skeletal remains of an adult individual were exhumed from a 15th century necropolis Korlat – Sv. Jere. The skeleton corresponds to a male between 40 and 45 years of age. In both cases CTscans revealed a unilocular, oval radiolucent lesion with well defined borders, situated at the left second and third molar region, below the mandibular canal. Axial CT scans of the mandible revealed discontinuity in the lingual cortex and some erosion in the buccal cortex. The mandibular bone concavity shows characteristic morphology ; the cortex is intact and invaginated into the medullar space. Little evidence of the Stafne defect has been found in paleopathologic literature, probably because of the low frequency of the defect and the fragility of ancient bones.