Osteoma or chondroma of the tongue; a clinical and postmortem study.

The occurrence of an osteoma or chondroma in the soft tissues of the oral cavity is rather uncommon. This anomaly occurs mainly on the tongue. Less than 60 cases have been published in the literature. In the first part of this treatise, 2 other patients are described, a 61-year-old female with a chondroma on the dorsum of the tongue and a 31-year-old female with an osteoma in the foramen caecum area. In the second part, the result of a post mortem study of 130 adult human tongues is reported. Not a single case of bone or cartilage formation was encountered in the cadaver tongues. The possible development of an osteoma or chondroma in embryonic life is discussed.