In the classification by Thoma and Goldman published
in 1946 (16), the odontogenic cysts introduced by Bland-
Sutton in 1888 were again excluded whereas the enamel
pearls – being developmental malformations rather than
neoplasms – were in fact considered tumours under the
name of enamelomas. The Thoma and Goldman classification
was widely accepted and used in several,
particularly American oral pathology text books and
formed the nucleus of the classification adopted with
minor changes in the American Academy of Oral
Pathology in 1952. At this time the term odontoma
has been narrowed down to designate only those lesions
that consist of both epithelial and mesenchymal elements.