Ranula – Dental Notes

  • A swelling that occurs in the floor of the mouth
  • It’s commonly a Mucous extravasation cyst in the floor of the mouth
  • Usually involves the Sublingual gland. Less common – submandibular salivary glands or from minor salivary glands in the floor of the mouth

Why Called Ranula?

  • “Rana” means frog because this lesion often resembles a frog’s translucent underbelly, thus called as RANULA
  • Dome-shaped, painless, slow-growing, soft, movable mass, translucent blue in color located in the floor of the mouth. Deeper ranulas are normal in color
  • Lateral to midline of the floor of the mouth
  • Usually larger than other mucoceles
  • May grow to a large size filling the floor of the mouth and elevating the tongue
  • Plunging/cervical ranula – a rare suprahyoid type of ranula, spilled mucin extends from the sublingual space around or through the mylohyoid muscle to the submandibular space producing swelling within the neck
  • Microscopic features similar to that of a Mucocele in other locations

Treatment

  • Either marsupialization (not very effective) or more often excision of entire sublingual gland
  • Sometimes may recur if the entire sublingual gland or other gland causing them is not excised with the lesion

References :-

  • Shafer’s Textbook Of Oral Pathology
  • Shear – Cysts Of The Oral & Maxillofacial Regions
  • Neville – Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology
  • Image – Wikipedia & Wikimedia Commons