Oral verrucous carcinoma.

Verrucous carcinoma is a well-defined variant of the squamous cell carcinoma. Although it is reported to be rare in the Scandinavian countries, 16 cases have been diagnosed in the Southern part of Norway from 1975 to 1982. The clinical and histological characteristics were investigated. The most common site of occurrence was the mandibular alveolar ridge. The average age was 71 years, and unlike most other series of verrucous carcinoma, there was a female predominance and use of tobacco seemed to be the exception. The patients mainly complained of ill-fitting dentures. Adequate surgical excision appears to be the treatment of choice.

Malignant transformation in oral lichen planus.

A carcinoma arose in the buccal mucosa of a 71-year-old woman suffering from several systemic diseases, and on extensive medication. The buccal mucosa had been affected by oral lichen planus for more than 9 years. The possibility of malignant transformation of oral lichen planus is discussed.

Renewal and migration of rat incisor mesenchymal cells after doxorubicin administration.

Ten female rats were intravenously injected with doxorubicin (20 mg/kg) and divided into two equal groups receiving a dose of tritiated thymidine either simultaneously with doxorubicin or 1 h before being killed after 5 days. Six control animals were correspondingly injected with 3H-thymidine. The left and right maxillary incisors were prepared for histologic and microautoradiographic investigation, respectively. The distribution of labeled cells in animals injected 1 h before death showed the regions of proliferation, whereas migration from these regions was evaluated by longer observation time. A zone of reduced dentin deposition lined by irregular odontoblasts being young odontoblasts and late preodontoblasts was observed at the time of doxorubicin injection. Pulpally to the dentinal lesion, islands of irregular predentin were deposited by non-progenitive pulp cells and depolarized odontoblasts. The late preodontoblasts were renewed from progenitive pulp cells, leading to a disturbed mantle predentin deposition.

Electrogalvanically-induced contact allergy of the oral mucosa. Report of a case.

A 69-year-old white female presented bilateral lesions of the oral mucosa possibly related to electrogalvanism. The lesions were histologically characterized as lichen planus and as mild epithelial dysplasia on the left and right sides, respectively. They disappeared after removing amalgam restorations opposing the lesions. Epicutaneous patch tests and lymphocyte-transformation tests showed that the patient suffered from a contact allergy to mercury compounds, indicating this as a mechanism by which electrogalvanism may induce lesions of the oral mucosa.

Oral abnormalities in the Saldino-Noonan syndrome.

The oral and dental features of a case of the Saldino-Noonan lethal short rib-polydactyly syndrome (SNS) are described. Natal teeth were noted. The anterior maxillary and mandibular fornices and the central labial frenula were absent. The tongue appeared larger than normal and lacked the sulcus terminalis and the vallate and foliate papillae. The tooth anlagen were abnormal. Microscopic studies revealed small tooth buds, in which hard tissue formation was more advanced than gestational age; abnormalities were noted primarily in the most recently formed dental tissue, indicating that the biochemical defect responsible for this disorder had acted abnormally on dentinogenesis mainly shortly prior to birth. Studies of oral and tooth development should be important to better understanding the abnormal function of the chondrodystrophy genes.

Sarcoidosis with mandibular involvement. Report of a case.

A case of mandibular involvement in sarcoidosis is presented. The diagnosis was based on positive chest roentgenograms, involvement of superficial and mediastinal lymph nodes of epithelioid tubercles, negative tuberculin test, and negative results of an examination with respect to tubercle bacilli. Mandibular involvement was diagnosed tentatively roentgenographically and verified by histopathologic examination. The mandibular lesion was treated surgically, and the defect healed uneventfully after less than 1 year. Almost complete normalization of the pulmonary lesions had taken place after 2 years.