The objective of this paper is, in the main, twofold: Firstly, to develop an algebraic setting for dealing with Bell polynomials and related extensions. Secondly, based on the author's previous work on multivariate Stirling polynomials (2015), to present a number of new results related to different types of inverse relationships, among these (1) the use of multivariable Lah polynomials for characterizing self-orthogonal families of polynomials that can be represented by Bell polynomials, (2) the introduction of `generalized Lagrange inversion polynomials' that invert functions characterized in a specific way by sequences of constants, (3) a general reciprocity theorem according to which, in particular, the partial Bell polynomials $B_{n,k}$ and their orthogonal companions $A_{n,k}$ belong to one single class of Stirling polynomials: $A_{n,k}=(-1)^{n-k}B_{-k,-n}$. Moreover, of some numerical statements (such as Stirling inversion, Schlömilch-Schläfli formulas) generalized polynomial versions are established. A number of well-known theorems (Jabotinsky, Mullin-Rota, Melzak, Comtet) are given new proofs.