Howell O. Archard

FOCAL EPITHELIAL HYPERPLASIA: AN UNUSUAL ORAL MUCOSAL LESION FOUND IN INDIAN CHILDREN.

Abstract An unusual focal hyperplasia involving the oral epithelium has been described. The lesion developed in nineteen Indians, of whom fifteen were Navajo Indian children from the Gallup, New Mexico, area. Similar clinical lesions are described in other ethnic groups in the American Indian population. The chief morphologic change noted is an acanthosis of discrete segments of oral epithelium and a ductal hyperplasia with secondary retention phenomena involving the minor salivary glands underlying areas of epithelial change. No recognizable etiologic factor or factors have been identified, although a communicable agent is being considered. The possibility of a genetic basis for the lesion has been suggested.

Leukoedema of the human oral mucosa

Abstract The clinical and histologic features of leukoedema of the oral mucosa have been described in nineteen cases reviewed by Sandstead, who had originally introduced the term, and three cases studied at the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health. Clinically, a diffuse, filmy, grayish white opacity involved the buccal mucosa bilaterally and, to a lesser extent, other sites of lining mucosa. This opacity was asymptomatic, appeared more frequently in adult Negroes, and showed no sex or age predilection. Histologically, the only significant change that could account for this appearance was a retained superficial layer of parakeratotic cells. No other significant epithelial or connective tissue alteration could explain this clinical lesion. There was no evidence to support the contention that leukoplakias and other keratoses were more likely to develop in areas of leukoedema than in normal epithelium. Presently, leukoedema is considered a variant of normal mucosa in which there is incomplete shedding of parakeratotic cells, a few of which may normally be present in most lining mucosa.

TUBEROUS SCLEROSIS WITH ORAL MANIFESTATIONS. REPORT OF TWO CASES.

Abstract Two cases of tuberous sclerosis with oral manifestations have been reported. One patient had multiple lesions on the tongue, and the other had lesions on the gingiva.