Intraoral resurfacing with dermal graft.

Abstract

THE RESURFACING of the oral cavity after an excision of a large verrucous carcinoma of the buccal membrane can be accomplished with relative ease when a primary dermal graft is applied to the buccal bed. The purpose of this report is to demonstrate the technique employed as well as substantiate its usefulness. Verrucous squamous carcinoma was first described by Ackerman. 1 It occurs most commonly on the buccal mucosa and lower gingiva where it is normally slow growing, well differentiated, warty or exophytic, and capable of invading local structures. Verrucous squamous carcinoma is amenable to wide local surgical extirpation; but occasionally it does take on malignant characteristics and can metastasize into the mandible or the cervical lymph nodes or both. In these rare instances, a radical neck dissection or a composite operation is necessary for control and cure. 2 The advantages of using a dermal graft have been described by