Transient infantile lingual leukoplakia: An underrecognized cause of white tongues in infancy.

We have observed a distinct phenomenon of transient oral lingual leukoplakia in infancy and report 22 healthy infants with gray-white plaques on the dorsal tongue with sparing of the tip from four medical centers in three countries. The onset of the eruption ranged from 1 week to 7 months of life and resolved in 19 patients (86%, with 3 patients lost to follow-up). None of the eight patients examined at 1 year of age had residual findings. We believe this is a common entity that can be distinguished from oral candidiasis on clinical and/or laboratory examination and name this entity "transient infantile lingual leukoplakia."