Familial white folded dysplasia of the mucous membranes.

In 1935, Cannon1first called attention to a syndrome which he described as a white spongy nevus of the oral mucosa. A detailed review of the medical and dental literatire since that time has revealed 10 additional reports dealing with such a congenital disturbance of the oral mucous membranes. It has been variously termed "congenital leukeratosis of the oral mucosa" by Ludy and Shirazy,2"pachyderma oralis" by Kinney and Derifield,7and "white folded gingivostomatosis" by Everett and Noyes,5Orban and Wentz,6and Darling and Fletcher.12Cooke8,9described two similar cases as "oral epithelial nevi." Lesions in the same patient in areas other than oral (dermal, vaginal, or rectal) have been documented in several of these reports.5,11A total of 15 cases have been actually observed and described in detail previously. Our review of the literature