Intraoral blue (Jadassohn-Tieche) nevus.

Blue nevus of the oral mucosa is a distinctly uncommon clincial entity. Careful review of the literature yielded thirty-one previously reported cases. The present article reports the occurrence of a blue nevus of the hard palate in a 58-year-old man. It is of interest since it is the smallest (1 by 1 mm.) intraoral blue nevus to be reported. A clinicopathologic study of the previous thirty-one cases and of our case suggests that this lesion has no age or sex predilection. The most common site of occurrence was the hard palate. There appears to be no tendency toward recurrence. A brief review of the historical background, clinical features, theories of possible origin, and differential diagnosis is presented. Excisional biopsy of localized areas of oral pibmentation, together with histopathologic study, is indicated to rule out melanoma.