Intraoral minor salivary gland tumors: Report of thirty-eight cases

Abstract

This series of thirty-eight intraoral minor salivary gland tumors consists of twenty-six benign and twelve malignant tumors. Twenty-three of the twenty-six benign tumors are mixed tumors, and eight of the twelve malignant tumors are low-grade mucoepidermoid tumors. The palate was the favored site for benign tumors (fourteen cases), whereas malignant tumors occurred most frequently in the retromolar pad (five cases). The most common clinical feature of all tumors was a painless swelling. The wide variation in the incidence of malignancy shown in published series of minor salivary gland tumors may be a result of two factors: (1) variation in histopathologic criteria for malignancy and (2) type of institution from which a series is reported.