Dermoid cysts of the tongue: report of five cases and review of the literature.

Dermoid cysts of the tongue are uncommon. To date, there have been nine reported cases in the English language literature. In this article, we describe five cases accessioned at our institution over a 12-year period, two of which have previously been reported. The prevalence of dermoid cysts at our institution over this period was quite low. Of 324,042 surgical cases, 0.24% (765 cases) were dermoid cysts. Of these, five were from the tongue, representing only 0.7% of the dermoid cysts accessioned and 0.0015% of the total surgical specimens. The literature is reviewed and the possible origin of these lesions is discussed.