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Oral focal mucinosis associated with surgically assisted rapid maxillary expansion

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajodo.2013.02.035Get rights and content

Oral focal mucinosis is a rare soft-tissue lesion that might result from the overproduction of hyaluronic acid by fibroblasts. The lesions are commonly found on the gingiva and palate; however, other sites, such as the tongue, have also been reported. The diagnosis of oral focal mucinosis is based on histologic analysis, and treatment involves surgical excision. Recurrences of lesions have not been reported. This article presents a patient with oral focal mucinosis that might be associated with surgically assisted rapid maxillary expansion.

Section snippets

Case report

A 20-year-old white woman came to the clinic at the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, for orthodontic preparation for orthognathic surgery. Her complaint was a bilateral posterior crossbite (Fig 1, A). After the diagnosis of maxillary atresia was made, a hyrax palatal expander was placed on the first premolars and the first molars, and the patient was referred for surgically assisted RME.

A subtotal LeFort I osteotomy was used to perform the surgically

Discussion

The etiology of oral focal mucinosis is unknown.11 Tomich1 described oral focal mucinosis as the counterpart to cutaneous focal mucinosis and suggested that it is caused by the overproduction of hyaluronic acid by fibroblasts during collagen production. The cause of this overproduction is unknown, and the idea that local trauma is the predisposing factor remains controversial.1, 14, 15

Inflammatory lesions described in the literature for differential diagnoses of oral focal mucinosis include

Conclusions

A rare case with a potential association between oral focal mucinosis and surgically assisted RME was described. This case illustrates that oral focal mucinosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of soft-tissue lesions in adult and adolescent patients who undergo surgically assisted RME. Oral focal mucinosis might be associated with surgically assisted RME because of the trauma inherent in the surgical procedure and its corresponding healing process.

References (33)

Cited by (10)

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    2022, Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology and Oral Radiology
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    The occurrence of OFM in nonattached oral mucosa is rare; to the best of our knowledge, there is no other case reported in the fornix region in the literature, as seen in the present case. The clinical findings of OFM are not discriminatory.11,13,14 Most reported cases present as a painless mucosal nodule with the same color as the adjacent mucosa and a smooth surface.11,15

  • Oral focal mucinosis of the tongue: A rare clinical entity?

    2017, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Cases
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    Additional cases have since then been reported [1,3,6,8,15,18,19] and a review on oral focal mucinosis published in 2008 [17] described a total of 48 cases. Since then 14 new cases have been published [2,4,5,11–13,20], giving a total of 62 known cases of OFM. The most common location for OFM is the gingiva, comprising more than half of the reported cases.

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All authors have completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest, and none were reported.

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