Mucocele: A case report with brief review

Kalpna Thakur; Lucky Jindal; Nitish Bhat

Kalpna Thakur Lecturer, Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, H.P. Govt. Dental College and Hospital, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India
Lucky Jindal Senior Lecturer, Department of Paedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, JCD Dental College, Sirsa, Haryana, India
Nitish Bhat MDS, Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology and Oral Microbiology, Jammu and Kashmir, India

Keywords: Mucocele, Extravasation cyst, Mucus, Salivary gland.

Abstract

Mucocele is a clinical term that basically includes two phenomenon i.e. mucus extravasation and mucus retention. Cysts arising in connection with minor salivary glands are common and about 90 per cent of cases are of the mucous extravasation type. These lesions are typically painless, dome-shaped, and fluctuant; they appear blue in colour secondary to the presence of mucin under the mucosa. The vesicular appearance created by the superficial nature of the mucin spillage, causes a separation of the epithelium from the connective tissue. The pathologist must be aware of this lesion and should not mistake it microscopically for a vesiculo-bullous lesion, especially mucous membrane pemphigoid. Here, we present a case report on mucocele with a brief review.