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Background
Parents of newborn infants sometimes apprehensively visit a dental surgeon or paediatrician, complaining of the presence of abnormal structures in the mouth of their infants. Many infants may have oral cysts of a transient nature, which disappear within a few days to months. Three such cysts namely Epstein pearls, Bohn's nodules and dental lamina cysts are widely reported in the literature. Epstein pearls were first described by Alois Epstein in 1880. Bohn's nodules were described by Heinrich Bohn as 'mucous gland cysts'. Dental lamina cyst, also known as a gingival cyst of newborns, are raised nodules on alveolar ridges of infants, derived from the rests of the dental lamina which consist of keratin producing epithelial lining. 1 These cysts appear as small, isolated or multiple whitish papules. These cysts can be classified into palatal (located in midline raphe) and alveolar cysts (present on the crests of alveolar ridges). 2 The reported prevalence of palatal cysts in newborns is about 65%, 3 while for alveolar cysts, it ranges from 25% 4 to 53%. 5
Despite the high prevalence, these cysts are rarely seen by the general or a paediatric dentist due to their transient nature. These cysts rupture and disappear within 2 weeks to 5 months without any treatment. 2 6 7 Their transient nature is thought to be due to fusion of the cyst wall with oral epithelium and subsequent discharge of the cystic content. 8 The present case report describes the characteristic clinical presentation and management of frequently found but less reported oral cysts in a newborn infant.
Case presentation
A 14-day-old male newborn infant presented to the Department of Paediatric and Preventive Dentistry, Chhatrapati Sahuji Maharaj Medical University, Lucknow with the chief complaint of swelling present on gums of both upper and lower jaws. The parents sought an opinion from a general dental surgeon, who referred them to the paediatric dentist. According to the mother, the swelling was present since birth, but without any feeding difficulty. The child was full-term born with unremarkable medical/dental history. No noticeable findings were recorded during extraoral examination. On intraoral examination, a nodular papule was present in the deciduous upper left molar region ( figure 1 ). The papules were also present in the deciduous lower right...