title: Rapidly enlarging mass following dental extraction.
abstract: Oral melanoma (OM) is a rare, malignant neoplasm of melanocytic origin. It accounts for 0.2 - 8% of all melanomas. In contrast to its cutaneous counterpart, OM has poor prognosis, possibly due to late clinical diagnosis, nonexistence of standardized clinical or histopathological grading and anatomical limitation in complete excision of the lesion. For better understanding of the lesion, case reports are still considered to be the source of information. Here we present a case of oral primary melanoma occurring in an uncommon site, the mandibular gingiva, with review of related literature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Karpaga Vinayaga Institute of Dental Sciences, Chengalpet, Kancheepuram, India.
authors.forename: Sivakumar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Palanivelu
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jayanthi
authors.forename: Umadevi K
authors.initials: UK
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Joshua
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ranganathan