[Malignant melanoma of the oral cavity]

Malignant melanoma of the oral cavity is a rare neoplasm and it is only 0.5% of the malignant neoplasms of the oral cavity, and less than 10% of all the malignant melanomas. The mean age for patients with oral melanoma is from 40 to 70 years; with a higher frequency between the 50 and 60 years. Pigmentation areas are frequently noted before diagnosis of this neoplasm. Some predisposing factors are mechanical traumas resulting from not well adapted prostheses, solar radiation, and chem-icals. Although oral cavity melanomas can remain asymptomatic during a time, the clinical presentations include hemorrhage, ulceration and pain. Melanomas grow fast, generally in a vertical growth phase, with early invasion of bones and lymphatic nodes. The prognosis for patients with melanoma is poor with a 5-year survival rate. The election treatment is surgical. The early diagnosis, the recognition of the lesions for doctors and odontologists, and the biopsy of recent or old pigmentation areas in the mouth that they have some changes (ulceration, bleeding, etc.) will contribute to offer patients a more effective treatment and a higher survival rate. We will present the case study of a 78-year-old male patient with a tumor in the dental ridge surrounded by melanotic spots, which was diagnosed as invasive melanoma and confirmed with immunohistochemical techniques.