Melanoma and the differential diagnosis of oral pigmented lesions

There are many pathologic processes that occur in the mouth which have various intraoral manifestations. The differential diagnosis of pigmented lesions of the oral cavity takes on a high degree of significance because therapy may span such a wide range from no treatment at all to massive radical resection for melanoma. A thorough understanding of pigmented lesions of the oral cavity would assist the clinician in establishing a diagnosis and subsequent treatment plan. A comprehensive review of the literature and a discussion of oral pigmented lesions including infiltrative malignant melanoma is presented.