A 43-year-old female patient reported with the chief complaint of a black colored swelling on the palate for the past one month. The swelling was insidious in occurrence, gradually increased in size since onset, no associated pain, discharge, trauma or constitutional symptoms. On examination, a brownish-black exophytic growth with areas of depigmentation measuring about 3.2 × 2 × 1.5 cm was seen involving the hard palate and maxillary alveolus in the region of 27 and 28 (Fig. 1). It was firm in consistency, non-tender and did not blanch on diascopy. A diagnosis of malignant melanoma was made which was confirmed through histopathology.

Fig. 1 Clinical picture depicting the brown-black exophytic growth.

Oral malignant melanomas are rare but aggressive and potentially lethal tumors. Symptoms occur later in the course of disease when the damage is irreparable. Therefore, it is important for oral physicians to be aware about such entities so that misdiagnosis is prevented and early intervention can save a life.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Informed consent

Informed consent has been obtained from the patient.

Ethical committee approval

Not required.

Source of funding

No funding received.

© The authors, 2022

All Figures

	Fig. 1 Clinical picture depicting the brown-black exophytic growth.
In the text