Central giant cell lesion of the jaws (CGCLJ) is a destructive condition that shows a varied and unpredictable biological behaviour. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate factors associated with the recurrence of CGCLJ. Based on the data of a previous systematic review of 2,270 CGCLJ, we used the multiple imputation to deal with the missing data. The dependent variable was the recurrence after the first treatment (yes/no). The dichotomic covariates were sex, upper or lower jaw location, size (up to or larger than 4 cm), pain, cortical bone perforation (yes/no), locularity (uni-/multilocular), tooth displacement (yes/no), treatment type (curettage or enucleation) and root resorption (yes/no). The final logistic model indicated that the tumours associated with tooth displacement, root resorption, and treated with curettage had a more significant chance of recurrence. In conclusion, our study suggests that tooth displacement, root resorption, and the type of treatment are potentially useful in the future construction of an algorithm for patient's treatment. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.