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Common Histopathology terms - Highlights (Rete Ridges)

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Common Histopathology terms - Highlights (Rete Ridges)

HackDentistry
Dec 11, 2021
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Common Histopathology terms - Highlights (Rete Ridges)

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There are so many histopathology terms a student may need to get acquainted to. Here’s a snippet of one such histopathology term - “Rete Ridges”.

🤔What is a rete ridge? And what are some characteristic shapes they can assume?

  • In the oral mucosa and skin, epithelial extensions called rete ridges or rete pegs interlock with the underlying connective tissue papillae. 

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  • Hence the interface between the epithelium and connective tissue in the oral mucosa is undulating or wavy. 

  • The epithelial rete ridges may assume characteristic shapes in certain oral lesions.

✔Saw-Tooth shaped rete ridges

  • “Saw tooth” rete ridges are classically seen in oral lichen planus and lichenoid reactions/lesions.

  • The normal “U-shaped” rete ridges become pointed resembling a “saw tooth”, hence the name.

  • The rete ridge, in these lesions, assumes this shape due to the basal cell degeneration of the epithelium by the subjacent inflammatory cells.

    Saw-tooth rete ridge
    Saw-tooth rete ridge

✔Drop-Shaped rete ridges

  • Drop shaped or bulbous rete ridges may be seen in lesions showing dysplasia.

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  • In fact, “drop shaped rete ridge” is considered to be an important dysplastic feature (architectural change).

  • Rete ridges assume this shape due to excessive proliferation of basal cells.

✔Elephant-Foot rete ridges

  • In verrucous carcinoma, rete ridges are elongated, thick and bulky, and push into the adjacent connective tissue. 

  • They are described as having an “elephant’s foot” appearance.


🔎You could dig deeper into the topic

In fact, we delve a lot more deeper into this topic in our cheatsheet/note -> Common histopathology terms. We talk about,

  • hyperplasia,

  • acanthosis,

  • hyperkeratosis,

  • atrophy,

  • acantholysis,

  • metaplasia,

  • dysplasia,

  • invasion of epithelium into the connective tissue (carcinoma),

  • rete ridges.

You could read in detail about Common Histopathology Terms with our Revision Ninja - Oral Pathology and Medicine Course bundle!


💡Note

Apart from Notes, you could also get access to numerous MCQs and Videos with English captions/subtitles on various topics in Oral Pathology and Medicine.

View Oral Pathology Syllabus


📚Other study resources on HackDentistry!

  • Revision Ninja - Oral Histology (Notes, Videos & MCQs)

  • Revision Ninja - Periodontics (Notes & MCQs)

  • Question Bank (5000+ Questions)

View all Syllabus/Topics covered


And hey, by the way, please do give HackDentistry a shout-out to your friends and colleagues, would you? Would really appreciate it! Cheers and happy reading :)

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