Pigmented nevi of the oral mucosa: a clinicopathologic study of 36 new cases and review of 155 cases from the literature. Part I: A clinicopathologic study of 36 new cases.

Pigmented nevi are uncommon oral lesions. This study adds data on 36 new cases. The most common type of nevus was the intramucosal type (20 cases), followed by the common blue nevus (11 cases). Only three cases were of the compound type and only two were of the junctional type. The hard palate was the most frequent location for the blue nevus, whereas the buccal mucosa was the most frequent site for the intramucosal nevus. One nevus (intramucosal type) was located on the tongue, and to our knowledge, this is the first reported example of pigmented nevus at this site. The individual data on the 36 cases are presented and compared with a previous study on oral nevi from the University of California at San Francisco. The previously unpublished clinical details on the 32 nevi from the previous study are also presented.