1994 Volume 40 Issue 2 Pages 314-316
Neurofibroma which is often multiple is one of the symptoms of von Recklinghausen's disease. Solitary development of neurofibroma in the oral cavity is rare. We encountered a patient with a solitary neurofibroma that occurred on the gingiva. The patient was a girl aged one year and one month. She was introduced to our department due to swelling of the upper median gingiva. A swelling was detected in the cervical gingiva labially to the left upper deciduous central incisor. It was smooth on the surface, semi-spherical and elastic, and measured 5 mm in diameter. The swelling was clinically diagnosed as an epulis and was surgically excised under general anesthesia two months later. The resected lesion was spherical and not clearly encapsulated. Hyperplasia of small, thin collagen fibers mixed with fibroblasts was histologically found. The lesion seemed to be neurogenic. It reacted positively to immunohistochemical staining with S-100 protein.
