Congenital epulis of the newborn: a case report

This paper describes the case of a day old baby who was admitted to hospital because of the presence of a large intraoral swelling that was preventing her from breast feeding. Clinical examination showed a firm, pedunculated, lobulated nodule protruding from the mouth and attached to the maxillary alveolus to the left of the midline. The mucosa was normal in appearance. The growth was excised under local anaesthesia and showed a histological appearance consistent with a congenital epulis of the newborn. Healing was complete and no recurrence was seen at review after two weeks. Conservative treatment of congenital epulis is often sufficient but in this case, the nodule prevented feeding. Excision was incomplete but, as in other cases treated in the same way, there has been no obvious tendency to recur.